As a result, these compounds elicit twisting behaviors and a further complete sequence of behaviors

in preparation of copulation that are normally only induced by exposure to a specific female pheromone. It thus appears that the effects of members of the AVP/OT family in the spinal cord may be associated with a reproductive function of these hormones throughout the animal kingdom (Wagenaar et al., 2010). In this context, the OTergic and AVPergic projections from the hypothalamus, so well preserved over evolution, may play an important role. The paraventricular nucleus plays a decisive role in maintaining homeostasis by regulating autonomic functions such as stress selleck compound response; cardiovascular, breathing, and renal control; and food intake and body weight regulation. A direct communication between

the NVP-BGJ398 in vivo paraventricular nucleus and somatic motor centers could allow rapid integration of autonomic response with motor behavior. For example, an increase in drive for food intake could correlate with an AVP-mediated increase in the excitability of motoneurons controlling tongue and facial muscles, i.e., XII and VII motoneurons. The fact that V1a receptors are preferentially expressed in motoneurons of newborn and young animals (Tribollet et al., 1991; Liu et al., 2003) suggests that this hypothalamic-motor interaction may be critical early in development in shaping neuronal networks involved in motor control (Reymond-Marron et al., 2006). Similarly, reproductive behavior requires specific coordinated motor behavior, such as those underlying lordosis in female rats. Neuromodulatory roles of OT and AVP may therefore extend throughout many circuits underlying this behavior, starting from the sensory triggers

to the motor output. In the above section, a number of neuromodulatory effects by AVP and OT have been summarized, with their effects on different nuclei considered as Phosphoribosylglycinamide formyltransferase part of a common denominator in the context of different behavioral systems. In the olfactory system, OT and AVP seem to exert their effects in concert on subsequent stations of the pathway, underlining their importance in the context of social cognition and mating behavior. In view of their sensitivity to estrogen and progesterone, it seems important to separate their effects according to gender and period. In the central amygdala, key structure for raising alert, and in the sympathetic and parasympathetic system with which the CeA is connected, OT and AVP exert strikingly opposite effects. A similar separation into opposite effects seems to operate in memory and learning and in the spinal cord at the dorsal sensory input versus the ventral motor output. For the moment, it remains unclear how the endogenous supply systems of OT and AVP are handling and coordinating these modulations.