title: Failure of vasopressin to enhance memory in a passive avoidance task in rats.
abstract: Several authors have suggested that the neurohypophysial hormone arginine-8-vasopressin (AVP) facilitates both the consolidation and the retrieval of memory. This conclusion has relied mainly on the finding that AVP increases the latency of re-entry into a box where shock has previously been encountered, that is, in a passive avoidance task. Our results do not support this interpretation. On the contrary, we found that post-trial, intraventricular (i.t.) administration of AVP (1 ng in 1 microliter) produced relatively short as well as long latencies (a bimodal effect), suggesting that the peptide acts on motivational processes, for example by increasing arousal.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001127:Arginine Vasopressin