**3.2. OXT and female animal aggression**

The data on the role OXT in female aggression are mixed, including several studies specifically on maternal aggression [32]. Although it was initially concluded that OXT in the PVN had excitatory effects on maternal aggression [33, 34], more recent studies involving OXT manipulations in the CeA and BNST conclude that OXT has inhibitory effects on maternal aggression [35]. Other studies reporting a positive association between OXT and female aggression postulate that OXT increases aggression by attenuating fear [34, 36, 37], but it is also possible that elevated OXT levels following maternal aggression are a result of the stress of the encounter [36]. In contrast, maternal separation decreases OXT immunoreactivity in lactating female mice, and this decrease was associated with an decreased latency to attack a novel male intruder [38], supporting earlier studies reporting an inhibitory effect of OXT on maternal aggression [39-41]. Several studies of the effects of cocaine on maternal aggression and oxytocin have also concluded that oxytocin has inhibitory effects on aggression [42-44]. In multiparous rats which are more aggressive than primiparous dams, OXT or OXT receptor levels are decreased in several behaviorally relevant brain regions compared to primiparous animals [45]. In general, the majority of the manipulative studies support the conclusion that OXT is inhibitory towards female aggression.
