The effect of vasopressin on memory in the healthy elderly.
The effect that vasopressin has upon memory in young and old males was tested in a double-blind crossover study. There were two 1-week medication periods; during one, subjects received 60 micrograms of vasopressin daily; during the other, placebo. Reaction time tasks were used to measure their speed of retrieval from: short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM), and semantic memory (SM). While vasopressin did not affect SM retrieval time or simple vocal reaction time, it did reduce memory comparison time and perceptual-motor time in STM and retrieval time in LTM. The degree of facilitation was similar in young and old.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003894:Deamino Arginine Vasopressin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged
D001127:Arginine Vasopressin; D003894:Deamino Arginine Vasopressin