• 作者： Sheng-Chiang Wang, Chen-Cheng Lin, Nian-Sheng Tzeng, Che-Se Tung and Yia-Ping Liu
• 作者服務機構： 1. Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, No. 161, Section 6, Minquan East Road, Neihu District, Taipei City, 114, Taiwan 2. Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital Songshan Branch, No. 131, Jiankang Road, Songshan District, Taipei City, 105, Taiwan 3. Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, No. 45, Chenghsin Street, Beitou District, Taipei City, 112, Taiwan 4. Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, No. 325, Section 2, Chenggong Road, Neihu Distict, Taipei City, 114, Taiwan 5. Student Counseling Center, National Defense Medical Center, No. 161, Section 6, Minquan East Road, Neihu District, Taipei, 114, Taiwan 6. Division of Medical Research & Education, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, No. 45, Chenghsin Street, Beitou District, Taipei City, 112, Taiwan, Republic of China
• 中文摘要：
• 英文摘要：
  Background
  Traumatic experience may lead to various psychological sequelae including the unforgettable trauma-associated memory as seen in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with a mechanism of impaired fear extinction due to biological imbalance among hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and fear circuit areas such as medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Recently the impaired sociability seen in PTSD patients received great attention and the involvement of oxytocin (OXT) mediation is worth being investigated. This study examined whether the trauma-altered prosocial behavior can be modulated by OXT manipulation and its relationship with corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) signaling.
  
  Methods
  Male rats previously exposed to a single prolonged stress (SPS) were evaluated for their performance in social choice test (SCT) and novel object recognition test (NORT) following the introduction of intranasal oxytocin (OXT) and OXT receptor antagonist atosiban (ASB). OXT receptors (OXTR) and CRH receptors (CRHR1, CRHR2) were quantified in both protein and mRNA levels in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), hippocampus, and amygdala.
  
  Results
  SPS reduced inclination of rats staying at the sociable place with performing less prosocial contacts. OXT can amend the deficit but this effect was blocked by ASB. Expression of OXTR became reduced following SPS in mPFC and amygdala, the latter exhibited higher therapeutic specificity to OXT. Expression of CRHR1 appeared more sensitive than CRHR2 to SPS, higher CRHR1 protein levels were found in mPFC and amygdala.
  
  Conclusion
  Psychological trauma-impaired sociability is highly associated with OXT signaling pathway. Intranasal OXT restored both the SPS-impaired prosocial contacts and the SPS-reduced OXTR expressions in mPFC and amygdala. OXT may have therapeutic potential to treat PTSD patients with impaired social behaviors.
• 中文關鍵字：
• 英文關鍵字： Corticotropin-releasing hormone, Fear circuit areas, Oxytocin, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Prosocial 35 behavior, Single prolonged stress.