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The 1970s saw a growing interest in the vasopressin-memory hypothesis, proposed by David de Wied and his collaborators in Utrecht. This rose to a peak in the 1980s that saw a flurry of papers published from diverse sources critical of the experimental foundations of this idea. In subsequent years, interest in this hypothesis declined markedly as shortcomings were recognized. Here, we study this debate using citation network analysis to identify the influential papers in this debate and the citation links between them. The issues raised have contemporary relevance to the current controversy about the interpretation of studies using intranasal oxytocin., (© 2019 New York Academy of Sciences.)

Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) is implicated in a variety of behavioral processes that are remarkably similar to those behaviors in which centrally acting oxytocin has been implicated. Central oxytocin derives in part from centrally projecting parvocellular neurons of the paraventricular nucleus, but large amounts of oxytocin are also released from dendrites of magnocellular oxytocin neurons in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus. Oxytocin release from dendrites is semi-independent of electrical activity and can be modulated by peptidergic signals independently of release from nerve terminals. Oxytocin is released from dendrites by stimuli that mobilize intracellular calcium stores, and such stimuli also prime dendritic stores of oxytocin, making them available for subsequent activity-dependent secretion. Evidence exists for efferent projections to the supraoptic nucleus from the arcuate nucleus where alpha-MSH neurons are located, and the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei show high levels of expression of mRNA for the melanocortin receptor MC4R. These projections may be involved specifically in the regulation of dendritic oxytocin release.