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. 2021 Mar 17;15:636764. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.636764

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2

Activation of oxytocinergic cells in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) that coincides with food anticipatory activity in rabbit pups. 1, 2: Photomicrographs showing the location of the dorsal (PVNmd) and ventral (PVNmv) portions of the main body of the PVN (A) and their caudal portion (PVNc) (B). A-F: Expression of oxytocin (white arrows) and double-labeled oxytocin and Fos (black arrows)-ir cells in the PVNmd (A,C,E) and PVNmv (B,D,F) just before nursing at 10:00 am (N10:00), 1.5 h after (N11:30) and in fasted subjects at the time of the previous scheduled nursing (F10:00). Note the increase in Fos/OT-ir cells before nursing (A) that persist in fasted subjects (E) only in the PVNmd. In contrast, the PVNmv only shows an increase in FOS/OT-ir cells after suckling of milk (D). OT, optic tract. Modified from Caba et al. (2020). Bottom panel. Schematic of non-OT cells (yellow) and interaction of PVN OT (green) pre-autonomic sympathetic (red) and parasympathetic (blue) neurons that project to the preganglionic sympathetic system (red) in the intermediolateral (IML) column of the spinal cord, or to the preganglionic parasympathetic system (blue) of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) in the medulla, that control the neural outflow to peripheral organs. Adapted from Buijs et al. (2001, 2003).