Oxytocin increases the salience of both positive and negative social contexts and it is thought that these diverse actions on behavior are mediated in part through circuit-specific action. This hypothesis is based primarily on manipulations of oxytocin receptor function, leaving open the question of whether different populations of oxytocin neurons mediate different effects on behavior. Here we inhibited oxytocin synthesis in a stress-sensitive population of oxytocin neurons specifically within the medioventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTmv). Oxytocin knockdown prevented social stress-induced increases in social vigilance and decreases in social approach. Viral tracing of BNSTmv oxytocin neurons revealed fibers in regions controlling defensive behaviors, including lateral hypothalamus, anterior hypothalamus, and anteromedial BNST (BNSTam). Oxytocin infusion into BNSTam in stress naïve mice increased social vigilance and reduced social approach. These results show that a population of extrahypothalamic oxytocin neurons plays a key role in controlling stress-induced social anxiety behaviors.

催产素增加了积极和消极社会情境的显着性，并且认为这些对行为的不同作用部分是通过特定于电路的作用来介导的。该假设主要基于催产素受体功能的操纵，这留下了一个问题，即催产素神经元的不同群体是否会介导对行为的不同影响。在这里，我们在应激敏感的催产素神经元群体中抑制催产素的合成，特别是在纹状体末梢（BNSTmv）的中腹床核内。催产素敲低阻止了社会压力引起的社会警觉性的提高和社会态度的减少。BNSTmv催产素神经元的病毒示踪显示，在控制防御行为的区域（包括下丘脑外侧，下丘脑前部，和前内侧BNST（BNSTam）。初次应激的老鼠向BNSTam中注入催产素会提高社交警觉性，并减少社交方式。这些结果表明，下丘脑外催产素神经元群体在控制压力引起的社交焦虑行为中起着关键作用。