In a rat study, separating pups from their mother caused anxiety‑like behavior, brain inflammation, and fewer support cells (astrocytes) in the hippocampus. Giving the rats intranasal oxytocin for a week partly fixed the brain cell and inflammation problems, though it didn’t rescue damaged neurons. The findings hint that oxytocin might help counteract some stress‑related brain changes, but the work is still early and done in animals.

Astrocytes are one of the glial cells of the nervous system. These cells reach their maximum number in the first two weeks after birth. Therefore, during this period they are sensitive to adverse conditions, including separation from the mother. One of the factors is the stress-modulating hormone oxytocin (OT). Adolescent male Wistar rats were used in this study. Rat pups were subjected to the MS protocol for 180minutes per day from postnatal day 1 to 21 (postnatal day (PND)). Then, from PND 22 to 34, OT was administered intranasally (2μg/μl, for 7 days). Behavioral assessments were performed on PND 35-37, we prespecified glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+ astrocyte density and morphology as the primary outcome, given astrocytes' active roles in synaptic plasticity, stress regulation, and oxytocin signaling; the neuron degeneration ratio and p38/p-p38 expression were treated as secondary outcomes. MS did not alter locomotion; it increased anxiety-like behavior in the Zero Maze Test (ZMT) (but not in the Open Field Test (OFT)) and elevated olfactory thresholds. MS also increased the degenerated/healthy neuron ratio and p38/p-p38 protein levels, and reduced GFAP+ astrocyte density and process size in hippocampal CA1; OT partly reversed these glial/inflammatory changes without affecting the neuron degeneration ratio. These findings suggest that OT could serve as a therapeutic agent to improve some of the adverse behavioral and histological effects of MS in modern societies.