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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015 Sep 21;63:50–58. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.09.017

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Oxytocin (Oxt) inhibition of stress-induced behavior and hormones requires activation of GABAA receptors in the PVN. (A–B) Females receiving an intra-PVN injection of Oxt (10 ng/200 nL/side) 15 min prior to exposure to elevated platform stress displayed significantly less elevated plus maze (EPM) anxiety-like behavior unless they also received an intra-PVN bicuculline (Bic; 5 ng or 50 ng/200 nL/side), a GABAA receptors antagonist. (C) No effects were observed on total arm entries in the EPM, a locomotor measurement. (D) Oxt treatment prevented the stress-induced rise in plasma corticosterone levels, but Bic (50 ng/200 nL/side) blocked this anxiolytic effect. (A–D) Bic treatment alone had no effect on behavior or plasma corticosterone levels. Bars labeled with different letters differ significantly by SNK's post-hoc test in which a significant main effect for the drug treatment was detected in a one-way ANOVA (p < 0.05). (A–D) Data are expressed as mean ± SEM.