Amastatin, bestatin (ubenimex), leupeptin, and puromycin have been found to inhibit the enzymatic degradation of oxytocin, though they also inhibit the degradation of various other peptides, such as vasopressin, met-enkephalin, and dynorphin A.

In the hypothalamus, oxytocin is made in magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, and is stored in Herring bodies at the axon terminals in the posterior pituitary.

The inactive precursor protein is progressively hydrolyzed into smaller fragments (one of which is neurophysin I) via a series of enzymes.

The last hydrolysis that releases the active oxytocin nonapeptide is catalyzed by peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM).

Vitamin C is synthesised in the liver in some mammals and in the kidney in birds and reptiles. In a separate but related system, exocrine tissues secrete their products into ducts and then to the outside of the body or to the intestinal tract.Classically, endocrine hormones are considered to be derived from amino acids, peptides, or sterols and to act at sites distant from their tissue of origin.The time frame selected for the current systematic review was from the year 1952-2014.The studies were selected from various electronic databases on the basis of their title, study design, keywords, and their abstracts.