title: Cysteinyl methyl ester of AVP(4-8), a potent agonist on the maintenance of passive avoidance in rats.
abstract: A series of short AVP analogs with D- or L-arginine forming the C-terminal was synthesized, and their peripheral effects, i.e., vasoconstrictor and antidiuretic activities, and behavioral effects in enhancing retention in passive avoidance in rats were evaluated. We found that: 1) AVP(4-8) and its cysteinyl methyl ester were more potent in the behavioral response than its D-Arg homologs; 2) the methyl ester derivative was the most effective analog in this behavioral test among the peptides we synthesized, with a potency 40 times as high as AVP; 3) neither the D- nor the L-Arg short derivatives of AVP showed any peripheral effects up to a dose thousands of times greater than AVP. The results support the contention that arginine in the short analogs plays an important role in their behavioral response associated with a relatively steady peptide conformation.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Academia Sinica, China.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014667:Vasopressins
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; C066224:argipressin (4-8) cysteinyl methyl ester; D014667:Vasopressins; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin