Oxytocin attenuates the cocaine-induced exploratory hyperactivity in mice

The effects of pimozide, a dopamine-receptor blocker and oxytocin, a neurohypophyseal neuropeptide were investigated in mice on the cocaine-induced exploratory hyperactivity. The action of oxytocin on changes of dopaminergic neurotransmission induced by cocaine was also measured. Cocaine-induced exploratory hyperactivity could be blocked by pimozide (1 mg kg-1, s.c.). Oxytocin (0.05-1.0 micrograms) inhibited the cocaine-induced hyperactivity in an U-shaped dose-response manner. In the nucleus accumbens, oxytocin antagonized the increased dopamine disappearance, elicited by cocaine, but not in the nucleus caudatus. The data suggest that oxytocin may influence the behavioural effect of cocaine by modulating dopaminergic neurotransmission in mesolimbic dopaminergic terminal region of the brain.