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Oxytocin

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Oxytocin is a nine peptide (nonapeptide) hormone that has a variety of psychological functions. It is produced in the hypothalamus, where it than goes to the posterior pituitary gland to get secreted into the bloodstream for the reproductive areas for men and women but does more in the reproductive of women. Although it is most known for the this, it is also combined and released in the central nervous system where it plays a role in maternal, sexual, and social behaviors.

In the first article I found, it talks about how oxytocin plays a large step in the women’s reproductive system. The first is childbirth, where it is responsible for signaling the contraction to the uterus walls during labor. This happens when the posterior pituitary gland …show more content…

During the start of the contractions they slowly increase when the prostaglandins are increased. Since some women cannot do this naturally or could be past their due date, they use a synthetic oxytocin that will allow the uterine muscles to contract and will help with the afterbirth with the placenta. The second is breastfeeding, where the oxytocin is present on myoepithelial cells. The reflex for the oxytocin to start its signaling process happens the second that the baby starts to suck on the mother’s nipple. The milk moves from the alveolar cells, where it is stored in a basket formation. It has been true that oxytocin in some women will signal the milk to come down even when the mother hears the baby cry for being hungry. This is all a controlled by a positive feedback mechanism, which is when the stimulus is directed a certain route and can accelerate the effects, an example being when contractions increase during labor. The process keeps going until the product is not available or being consumed by something else. If a woman does not have enough oxytocin being signaled, then it can prevent the contractions of the muscle in the uterus …show more content…

This happens when the oxytocin is synthesized from the central nervous system into the bloodstream through the dendrites. This has to do with when a mother is in last term of a pregnancy; the fetus is surrounded by the amniotic fluid which causes the receptors to be bathed in receptors when the fetus swallows and sucks on their thumb. The fetus can start to hear the mother and feel comfort from them. This is when the bond starts to form between a child and mother. In an experiment, they had a mother mice and pups placed inside a home cage right after the birth. The pups where then placed outside the nest for a temporarily time, while the mother had gone to pick them up from this place. The mother who had the maternal instincts from the increase in oxytocin, could retrieve her pups quickly without any problems. When a mother did not have an increased level of oxytocin levels, they would sniff the pups and all around them, acting like they had other things on their mind other than the pups’ health. After being able to tell that they needed the nurturing, they would often forget where they were heading and drop the pups along the way, forgetting what they were doing with the pups’ in first place. This showed that some of the mothers had lower oxytocin levels that led to them not to care for their pups and not getting the increase in levels in postpartum like most or all mothers do.

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