Considering the latter pathway, in rats it was previously observed that central oxytocin administration to the hippocampus immediately after exposure to a reminder of a severe stressor reduced PTSD-like behaviour one week later, which was accompanied by an oxytocin-induced decrease in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression in the hippocampus (Cohen et al., 2010). This evidence concerns the gene OXT and post-traumatic stress disorder.