Oxytocin regulates a variety of centrally-mediated functions, ranging from socio-sexual
behavior, maternal care, and affiliation to fear, stress, anxiety. In the past years, both clinical
and preclinical studies characterized oxytocin for its modulatory role on reward-related
neural substrates mainly involving the interplay with the mesolimbic and mesocortical
dopaminergic pathways. This suggests a role of this nonapeptide on the neurobiology of
addiction raising the possibility of its therapeutic use. Although far from a precise knowledge …