Oxytocin receptor antagonists - Update

For over three decades, scientists in a number of different laboratories have worked to design peptide analogues of oxytocin (OT) selective for the oxytocin receptor. Although there has been some interest in their use for treatment of dysmenorrhea, the principal clinical venue for such agents has been thought to lie in treatment of preterm labor. A major difficulty in identifying the clinical role for an OT antagonist had been our incomplete understanding of the role of OT in both term and preterm labor. This article begins with a review of the current understanding of the role of OT in the initiation and maintenance of labor in the human.