For example, when contraction of the uterus starts during childbirth, oxytocin is released. This stimulates more contractions and more oxytocin to be released. In this way, contractions increase in intensity and frequency. There is also a positive feedback involved in the milk-ejection reflex.
Stimulation of the nipple during breastfeeding leads to increased oxytocin production and secretion into the blood, which then causes milk to be let down into the breast. The positive feedback cycle is maintained until the baby stops suckling. The production of oxytocin during childbirth is also self-limiting; release of the hormone is stopped once the baby is delivered.
At present, the implications of having too much oxytocin are not clear. This may cause difficulty in passing urine. It may be possible to treat this condition by manipulating oxytocin levels; however, more research is needed before any possible treatments are available. Similarly, it is not fully understood at present if there are any implications of having too little oxytocin in the body. A lack of oxytocin in a nursing mother would prevent the milk-ejection reflex and prevent breastfeeding.
For example, secretion or administration of oxytocin in humans appears to enhance trust and cooperation within socially-close groups, while promoting defensive aggression toward unrelated, competing groups.
While all of the effects described above certainly occur in response to oxytocin, doubt has recently been cast on its necessity in parturition and maternal behavior.
Mice that are unable to secrete oxytocin due to targeted disruptions of the oxytocin gene will mate, deliver their pups without apparent difficulty and display normal maternal behavior. However, they do show deficits in milk ejection and have subtle derangements in social behavior.
It may be best to view oxytocin as a major facilitator of parturition and maternal behavior rather than a necessary component of these processes. Both sexes secrete oxytocin - what about its role in males? Males synthesize oxytocin in the same regions of the hypothalamus as in females, and also within the testes and perhaps other reproductive tissues.
Pulses of oxytocin can be detected during ejaculation. Current evidence suggests that oxytocin is involved in facilitating sperm transport within the male reproductive system and perhaps also in the female, due to its presence in seminal fluid.
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