Uvnäs-Moberg, Kerstin
- Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Postnatal oxytocin treatment decreases blood pressure and increases body weight in adult normotensive rats. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of postnatally administered oxytocin on blood pressure, heart rate and body weight in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). For this purpose SHR male pups were given oxytocin (1 mg/kg) or saline subcutaneously once a day on days 10-14 after birth. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured at the age of 2 months. Weight was registered continuously. The postnatally oxytocin-treated male SHR had significantly lower systolic blood pressure as adults compared to the controls (158 vs. 169; p < 0.05). They also had a tendency to lower diastolic blood pressure (119 vs. 128; p = 0.10). Heart rate was equal in the two groups. The postnatally oxytocin-treated male SHR had a significantly lower body weight at the age of5-8 weeks compared to the controls (ANOVA p = 0.014). (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
oxytocin; blood pressure; heart rate; postnatal; SHR; hypertension
Published in
Neuroscience Letters
2008, volume: 440, number: 2, pages: 166-169
Publisher: ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Endocrinology and Diabetes
Neurosciences
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2008.05.091
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/77935