The hormone, oxytocin, promotes uterine contraction during parturition. Oxytocin is synthesized by magnocellular neurones in the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei and is released into the circulation from the posterior pituitary gland in response to action potential firing. Systemic kisspeptin administration increases oxytocin neurone activity to elevate plasma oxytocin levels. Here, immunohistochemistry revealed that rats on the expected day of parturition (day 21 of gestation) had a higher density of kisspeptin-positive fibres in the perinuclear zone surrounding the supraoptic nucleus (which provides dense glutamatergic and GABAergic innervation to the supraoptic nucleus) than was evident in non-pregnant rats. Retrograde tracing showed the kisspeptin projections to the perinuclear zone originated from the hypothalamic periventricular nucleus. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that kisspeptin receptor mRNA, Kiss1R mRNA, was expressed in the perinuclear zone/supraoptic nucleus and that the relative Kiss1R mRNA expression does not change over the course of pregnancy. Finally, intracerebroventricular administration of kisspeptin increased the firing rate of oxytocin neurones in anaesthetized late-pregnant rats (days 18 - 21 of gestation) but not in non-pregnant rats, or in early-pregnant or mid-pregnant rats. Taken together, these results suggest that kisspeptin expression is upregulated in the periventricular nucleus projection to the perinuclear zone of the supraoptic nucleus towards the end of pregnancy. Hence, this input might activate oxytocin neurones during parturition. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 August 2017.
All research outputs
#6,400,693
of 34,363,559 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Physiology
#2,463
of 12,244 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#72,304
of 337,400 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Physiology
#25
of 93 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,363,559 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 81st percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 12,244 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.4. This one has done well, scoring higher than 79% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 337,400 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 93 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
