Boer G J, Quak J, de Vries M C, Heinsbroek R P
Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam.
Peptides. 1994;15(2):229-36. doi: 10.1016/0196-9781(94)90007-8.
The lasting effects of a 9-day neonatal exposure to vasopressin and oxytocin were examined in the rat to discover if peptide administration results in organizational effects. When tested in young adulthood, brain growth, not body growth, appeared to be impaired. Basal and challenge tests of urine production, carried out to see the development of the hormonal antidiuretic function of vasopressin, revealed no lasting changes, and therefore did not confirm earlier findings of an induced mild polyurea. Behavioral testing of learning by making use of a one-trail step-through paradigm with a 24-h retention trial--a test that is sensitive to vasopressin--did not show impairments. Open field tests, however, showed enhanced emotionality in the vasopressin-treated females, as well as an initially increased ambulation in the males, and increased grooming in both sexes, the latter also having been reported to be induced by vasopressin administration in the septal areas. Oxytocin treatment did not produce lasting changes. Our conclusion, therefore, is that peripherally circulating vasopressin can affect the organizational development of the rat brain. It remains to be established whether this is an effect obtained through changes in the general peripheral physiology or a reflection of plasticity phenomena at the level of central vasopressin neurotransmission.
研究人员在大鼠中检测了新生期连续9天暴露于血管加压素和催产素的长期影响，以确定肽类给药是否会产生组织效应。在成年早期进行测试时，似乎是脑生长而非身体生长受到了损害。为观察血管加压素的激素抗利尿功能的发育而进行的基础和激发性尿液生成测试，未发现长期变化，因此也未证实早期关于诱导轻度多尿的研究结果。利用单通道一步通过范式并进行24小时记忆测试（该测试对血管加压素敏感）对学习进行行为测试，未显示出损害。然而，旷场试验显示，接受血管加压素治疗的雌性大鼠情绪增强，雄性大鼠最初的活动增加，两性的梳理行为均增加，后者也曾被报道可由隔区注射血管加压素诱导产生。催产素治疗未产生长期变化。因此，我们的结论是，外周循环的血管加压素可影响大鼠脑的组织发育。这是通过一般外周生理学变化获得的效应，还是中枢血管加压素神经传递水平可塑性现象的反映，仍有待确定。
