@article {310711,
	title = {The role of central oxytocin in obsessive compulsive disorder and related normal behavior.},
	journal = {Psychoneuroendocrinology},
	volume = {19},
	year = {1994},
	pages = {723-49},
	abstract = {<p>Oxytocin (OT) is a neurosecretory nonapeptide synthesized in hypothalamic cells, which project to widely distributed sites in the CNS as well as the neurohypophysis. Central OT affects a variety of cognitive, grooming, affiliative, sexual, and reproductive behaviors in animals. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) includes a range of cognitive and behavioral symptoms that bear some relationship to dimensions of behavior associated with OT. Anecdotal data and a recently completed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) study provide evidence that some forms of OCD are related to OT dysfunction. Based on these findings, we hypothesize: 1) that some forms of OCD are at the extreme end of a range of normal behaviors that are mediated by OT and related systems; and that 2) some normal cognitive, affiliative, and sexual behaviors contain elements that are similar to features of OCD. Alternative hypotheses are considered, and a series of predictions are presented concerning the relationship between central OT and the onset, course, treatment response, and response to challenge procedures seen in this form of OCD.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Brain Mapping, Humans, Hypothalamus, Neural Pathways, Neurophysins, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Oxytocin, Stereotyped Behavior},
	issn = {0306-4530},
	author = {Leckman, J F and Goodman, W K and North, W G and Chappell, P B and Price, L H and Pauls, D L and Anderson, G M and Riddle, M A and McDougle, C J and Barr, L C}
}
