The neuropeptide oxytocin has been implicated in the control of numerous affiliative behaviors including maternal, sexual and social behaviors. Stress is also a stimulus for the release of oxytocin. It was hypothesized that oxytocin acts in the brain to facilitate social interactions, whether they be parent/offspring, mating partners or conspecifics, by reducing anxiety during these stressful encounters. Many of these behaviors are normally expressed under restricted endocrine conditions in rodents (i.e., recently parturient, estrous etc.) and steroids have been shown to increase oxytocin binding to its receptor in specific brain regions. Therefore, we tested if oxytocin would act as an anxiolytic in the plus-maze and the hole-board apparatus and if steroids would modulate this effect.
