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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 May 26.
Published in final edited form as: J Neuroendocrinol. 2020 May 14;32(6):e12856. doi: 10.1111/jne.12856

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3

Autocrine modulation of burst firing in oxytocin magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs). Cervical stretch during birth activates stretch receptors to activate A2 noradrenergic neurones in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) that, in turn, activate somato-dendritic oxytocin secretion from oxytocin MNCs. Oxytocin feeds back on oxytocin MNCs to increase excitability. Oxytocin also increases noradrenaline secretion within the supraoptic nucleus (SON) to establishe a local positive feedback loop that reinforces oxytocin MNC excitation and promotes oxytocin secretion into the circulation to trigger uterine contractions during birth. OTR, oxytocin receptor; PVN, paraventricular nucleus