Abstract
Several studies have suggested that arginine vasopressin (AVP) may act centrally as a neurohormone or neuromodulator to produce electrophysiological and behavioral effects. However, there are few reports of EEG effects of AVP in unanesthetized, behaving animals. In the present study the EEG effects of “behaviorally relevant” subcutaneous (SC) doses of AVP (6 μg/kg) known to raise blood pressure were compared to “behaviorally relevant” intracerebroventricular (ICV) doses (0.1–1.0 ng) and multiple “toxic” ICV doses (1.0 μg) of AVP. Central injections of toxic doses of AVP produced behavioral arrest, bodily barrel rolling, and EEG slowing, but did not induce electrographic signs of seizure activity. Comparison of the spectral characteristics of the EEG revealed some similarities in the distribution of power between SC and the 1.0 ng ICV dose; whereas ICV doses of 0.1 and 0.5 ng produced power distributions that were different from those seen following saline or SC doses of AVP. The similarities in EEG activity between SC injections and the 1.0 ng ICV dose suggest a common brain state may be induced by the two routes of administration in those dose ranges.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bohus B, Ader R, Wied de D (1972) Effects of vasopressin on active and passive avoidance behavior. Hormon Behav 3:191–197
Bohus B, Urban I, Van Wimersma Greidanus TB, Wied de D (1978) Opposite effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on avoidance behavior and hippocampal theta rhythm in the rat. Neuropharmacology 17:239–247
Buijs RM (1978) Intra- and extrahypothalamic vasopressin and oxytocin pathways in the rats. Cell Tissue Res 192:423–435
Buijs RM, Swaab DF (1979) Immuno-electron microscopical demonstration of vasopressin and oxytocin synapses in the limbic system of the rats. Cell Tissue Res 204:355–365
Ehlers CL (1984) The role of selected neuropeptides in the development of epileptiform discharges. In: Fariello RG, Engel J, Lloyd KG, Morselli PL, Quesney LF (eds) Neurotransmitters, seizures, and epilepsy. Raven Press, New York, pp 295–314
Ehlers CL, Havstad JW (1982) Characterization of drug effects on the EEG by power spectral band time series analysis. Psychopharmacol Bull 18(3):43–47
Ettenberg A, Le Moal M, Koob GF, Bloom FE (1983) Vasopressin potentiation in the performance of a learned appetitive task: Reversal by a pressor antagonist analog of vasopressin. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:645–647
Hawthorn J, Ang VTY, Jenkins JS (1980) Localization of vasopressin in the rat brain. Brian Res 197:75–81
Kasting NW, Veale WL, Cooper KE (1980) Convulsive and hypothermic effects of vasopressin in the brain of the rat. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 58:316–319
Koob GF, Le Moal M, Gaffori D, Manning M, Sawyer WH, Rivier J, Bloom FE (1981) Arginine vasopressin and a vasopressin antagonist peptide: Opposite effects on extinction of active avoidance in rats. Regulatory Peptides 2:153–163
Koob GF, Bloom FE (1982) Behavioral effects of neuropeptides: endorphins and vasopressin. Ann Rev Physiol 44:571–582
Kruse H, Wimersma Greidanus TjB van, Wied de D (1977) Barrel rotation induced by vasopressin and related peptides in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 7:311–313
Lebrun CJ, Rigter H, Martinez JL Jr, Koob GF, Le Moal M, Bloom FE (1984) Antagonism of effects of vasopressin (AVP) on inhibitory avoidance by a vasopressin antagonist peptide [dPtyr(Me)AVP]. Life Sci 35:1505–1512
Le Moal M, Dantzer R, Mormede P, Baduel A, Lebrun C, Ettenberg A, van der Kooy D, Wenger J, Deyo S, Koob GF, Bloom FE (1984) Behavioral effects of peripheral administration of arginine vasopressin: a review of our search for a mode of action and a hypothesis. Psychoneuroendocrinol 9:319–341
Lee RJ, Lomax P (1982) Thermoregulatory, Behavioral and EEG Effects of Arginine Vasopressin in the Mongolian Gerbil. Proc West Pharmacol Soc 25:29–33
Sahgal A, Keith AB, Wright C, Edwardson JA (1982) Failure of vasopressin to enhance memory in a passive avoidance task in rats. Neurosci Lett 8:87–92
Sofroniew MV, Weindl A (1978a) Projections from the parvocellular vasopressin and neurophysin-containing neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Am J Anat 153:391–430
Sofroniew MV, Weindl A (1978b) Extrahypothalamic neurophysin-containing perikarya, fiber pathways and fiber clusters in the rat brain. Endocrinology 102:334–337
Urban I, de Wied D (1975) Inferior quality of RSA during paradoxical sleep in rats with hereditary diabetes insipidus. Brain Res 97:362–366
Urban I, Wied de D (1978) Neuropeptides: Effects on paradoxical sleep and theta rhythm in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 8:51–59
Urban IJA (1981) Intraseptal administration of vasopressin and oxytocin affects hippocampal electroencephalogram in rats. Exp Neurol 74:131–147
Wied D de (1971) Long term effect of vasopressin on the maintenance of a conditioned avoidance response in rats. Nature 232:58–60
Wied D de (1976) Behavioral effects of intraventricularly administered vasopressin and vasopressin fragments. Life Sci 19:685–690
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ehlers, C.L., Reed, T.K., Wang, M. et al. EEG effects of subcutaneous and intracerebroventricular injections of arginine vasopressin in the rat. Psychopharmacology 87, 430–433 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00432508
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00432508