Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream through the neurohypophysis.
Oxytocin has neuromodulatory functions, related to moods and affections, but it also performs physiological control functions, its role in childbirth and during lactation being one of the best known.
First, a distinction must be made between natural oxytocin , secreted by the hypothalamus and transported by the neurophysin protein, from artificial oxytocin, which is used for pharmacological purposes , precisely to induce or facilitate some deliveries.
Natural oxytocin secreted in higher concentration from the moment the woman breaks her water to stimulate uterine contractions does not present the possible adverse effects of an overdose of synthetic oxytocin, which must be injected intravenously, since the peptide bonds are broken in contact with gastric juices.
The role of natural oxytocin
The stimulus that triggers the production of natural oxytocin during childbirth is the distension of the cervix (r eflejo Ferguson) and has a decisive role in the dilation of the cervix continue. The role of natural oxytocin in the physiology of vaginal delivery becomes more important during the secondary and tertiary phases of labor. Later, after giving birth, it produces slight uterine contractions during the first weeks of the lactation period, in order to help the uterus and the area that was attached to the placenta to recover.
However, some experiments carried out with mice raise questions about the role of oxytocin in childbirth and whether its effect is really so determining ( Takayanagi, Yuki. Pervasive social deficits, but normal parturition, in oxytocin receptor-deficient mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA November 1, 2005. Doi: 102 (44) 16096-16101 ).
How Synthetic Oxytocin Works
Regarding the role of synthetic oxytocin , its use should not be to induce labor, understood as such to produce its onset, except in very specific cases. Rather, injectable oxytocin is used to facilitate labor by increasing contractions. For example, there are cases in which the woman breaks water naturally but there are no uterine contractions, and then one of the possible solutions is treatment with intravenous oxytocin.
Inducing labor, either by whatever method, and the use of Pitocin is one of them, may have risks or side effects, hence the importance of other doctors who decide when it is necessary to use these procedures and when you can wait and observe the evolution of the final stretch of pregnancy. When oxytocin needs to be injected into a pregnant woman, it is done by controlling the doses, to use the lowest effective dose and reduce possible adverse effects .
In summary, we have seen that oxytocin is a hormone capable of controlling different functions, some cerebral and others physiological.
There is natural oxytocin, produced in the hypothalamus , and a synthetic version that is used for medical purposes only when indicated. In any case, gynecologists and obstetricians are the ones who should evaluate the advisability or not of the use of synthetic oxytocin in labor with complications.
