title: Verbal memory after three months of intranasal vasopressin in healthy old humans.
abstract: In animals, evidence has been accumulated that vasopressin (VP) improves learning and memory. In humans, this effect was not consistently demonstrated, and attempts to restore age-related memory deficits by VP also remained inconsistent. Assuming that in old subjects a beneficial effect on memory occurs only after prolonged treatment with VP, we conducted a study in 26 healthy elderly persons receiving 40 IU of VP for three months through the intranasal route. The trial was randomized, placebo-controlled and held double-blind. Memory was assessed by the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) requiring the subject to learn repeatedly presented lists of 15 words. Results demonstrated no general effect of long-term treatment with VP on memory in aged humans. However, recall of an interfering word list was improved, indicating a diminished proactive interference by the peptide. Additionally, VP influenced recall depending on the serial position of an item: it improved the primacy effect (i.e. recall of the first words of a list) and impaired the recency effect. This result may indicate an improved semantic encoding (i.e. a primary effect on processes of attention) after long-term administration of VP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Perras
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Droste
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Born
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Fehm
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pietrowsky
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D014667:Vasopressins