Arginine vasopressin plays an important role in volume homeostasis. Patients with heart failure have chronically elevated plasma vasopressin concentrations which may contribute to their clinical syndrome of fluid retention. Recently, a number of agents have been developed to antagonize the effects of vasopressin by targeting its V1a and V2 receptors, which are involved in vascular tone and free...

The pathophysiological role of an increase in circulating vasopressin in sustaining global and regional vasoconstriction in patients with congestive heart failure has not been established, particularly in patients with hyponatraemia. To assess this further, 20 patients with congestive heart failure refractory to digoxin and diuretics were studied before and 60 minutes after the intravenous inje...

In rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus for 10-20 days, we showed that the abundance of the major medullary transport proteins involved in the urinary concentrating mechanism, urea transporter (UT-A1), aquaporin-2 (AQP2), and the Na+-K+-2Cl- cotransporter (NKCC2/BSC1), is increased, despite the ongoing osmotic diuresis. To test whether vasopressin is necessary for these diabetes m...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of vasopressin versus epinephrine, and both drugs combined, in a porcine model of simulated adult asphyxial cardiac arrest. METHODS AND RESULTS At approximately 7 minutes after the endotracheal tube had been clamped, cardiac arrest was present in 24 pigs and remained untreated for another 8 minutes. After 4 minutes of basic l...

Yao Y, Fu L-Y, Zhang X, van den Pol AN. Vasopressin and oxytocin excite MCH neurons, but not other lateral hypothalamic GABA neurons. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 302: R815–R824, 2012. First published January 18, 2012; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00452.2011.—Neurons that synthesize melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) colocalize GABA, regulate energy homeostasis, modulate water intake, and inf...

We report a patient who had an oat cell bronchogenic carcinoma in association with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis. There was an unusually long interval between the onset of hyponatraemia and clinically evident malignant disease. Dynamic testing of vasopressin secretion showed preservation of baroregulated, but not osmoregulated, vasopressin release. Immunoreactive vasopressin was de...

Arginine vasopressin was measured in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 42 patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage. Increased concentrations of vasopressin were present in 10 patients, of whom eight had bled from an anterior communicating artery aneurysm. In three patients high blood vasopressin values were associated with gross hyponatraemia. Five patients were found to have increased C...

BACKGROUND Compounds that block uterine oxytocin and vasopressin V1a receptors have a therapeutic potential in preterm labor and primary dysmenorrhoea. The orally active vasopressin V1a receptor antagonist, SR49059, inhibits the effect of vasopressin on human uterine activity in vivo, but the influence on the response to oxytocin is unknown. METHODS In a placebo-controlled, double-blind, para...

The amount of immunocytochemically detectable vasopressin in the brain of the European hamster (Cricetus cricetus) shows a seasonal variation; i.e., dense vasopressin immunoreactivity is present in the lateral septum during summer but is absent in autumn and winter [Buijs, R. M., Pévet, P., Masson-Pévet, M., Pool, C. W., De Vries, G. J., Canguilhem, B. & Vivien-Roels, B. (1986) Brain Res. 371, ...

Marine mammals, including the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, must rely on the water content of their food to achieve water balance. We have investigated the endocrine role of the antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin) in relation to food intake and water conservation. A series of seven bottlenose dolphins, maintained in a controlled environment, were sampled for blood and urine before and a...