Beschreibung
Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 70. Chapters: Epinephrine, Neurotransmitter, Dopamine, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Anandamide, Aspartic acid, Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, Endorphin, Catecholamine, Nitric oxide, Oxytocin, Glutamate receptor, Dynorphin, Glutamate carboxypeptidase II, Vasopressin, Norepinephrine, Gamma-Aminobutyric acid, Substance P, Clinical Neurochemistry, Reuptake, Gliotransmitter, Histamine, 5-HT3 receptor, Gastrin-releasing peptide, Dopaminergic, Tachykinin peptides, HTR3B, HTR3A, 2-Arachidonoylglycerol, Adrenorphin, Beta-endorphin, Gasotransmitter, Amidorphin, Oleoylethanolamide, N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid, Eledoisin, HTR3E, HTR3C, Amino acid neurotransmitter, Indirect agonist, FMRFamide, Monoamine neurotransmitter, Prodynorphin, Non-noradrenergic, non-cholinergic transmitter, HTR3D, Cholinergic crisis, Conditioned place preference, Trace amine, Indolamines, Serotonergic, False neurotransmitter, Serotonin pathways, Phasic transmitter. Excerpt: Oxytocin ( ) is a mammalian hormone that acts primarily as a neuromodulator in the brain. Oxytocin has the distinction of being the very first polypeptide hormone to be sequenced and synthesized biochemically, by Vincent du Vigneaud et al. in 1953. Oxytocin is best known for its roles in female reproduction. It is released in large amounts 1) after distension of the cervix and uterus during labor, and 2) after stimulation of the nipples, facilitating birth and breastfeeding. Recent studies have begun to investigate oxytocin's role in various behaviors, including orgasm, social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, and maternal behaviors. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as the "love hormone". The word oxytocin is a corruption of the Greek t, okytokíne, "quick labor". Oxytocin is a peptide of nine amino acids (a nonapeptide). Its systematic name is cysteine-tyrosine-isoleucine-glutamine-asparagine-cysteine-proline-leucine-glycine-amine (cys - tyr - ile - gln - asn - cys - pro - leu - gly - NH2, or (CYIQNCPLG-NH2). The cysteine residues form a disulfide bond. Oxytocin has a molecular mass of 1007 daltons. One international unit (IU) of oxytocin is the equivalent of about 2 micrograms of pure peptide. The biologically active form of oxytocin, commonly measured by RIA and/or HPLC techniques, is also known as the octapeptide "oxytocin disulfide" (oxidized form), but oxytocin also exists as a reduced dithiol nonapeptide called oxytoceine. It has been theorized that open chain oxytoceine (the reduced form of oxytocin) may also act as a free radical scavenger (by donating an electron to a free radical); oxytoceine may then be oxidized back to oxytocin via the redox potential of dehydroascorbate <---> ascorbate. Oxytocin (ball-and-stick) bound to its carrier protein neurophysin (ribbons)The structure of oxytocin is very similar to that of vasopressin (cys - tyr - phe - gln - asn - cys - pro - arg - gly - NH2), also a nonapeptide with a sulfur bridge,
