Jana Škopková

Vasopressin analogues and spatial working memory in the 24-arm radial maze

The effect of vasopressin analogues dAVP, dDAVP, and desgly NH2 dDAVP on working memory was tested in the 24-arm radial maze in twelve 6-month-old and twelve 19-month-old rats. No age dependent effects were found. All three peptides tested (3 micrograms/kg) tended to improve the performance but only the desgly NH2 dDAVP significantly decreased the number of errors. A second application of desgly NH2 dDAVP was ineffective. The specificity of activation of memory mechanisms by desgly NH2 dDAVP can be questioned.

Vasopressin analogues and spatial short-term memory in rats

The effect of vasopressin analogues on short-term memory was tested in the 12-arm radical maze. After the first 6 choices rat (n = 16) were removed from the apparatus and allowed to complete the remaining 6 choices 20 min later. Whereas desgly-NH2-VP, AVP, dAVP and dDAVP (3.0 mu/kg) administered 40 min before or immediately after the first 6 choices did not change the incidence of errors in the second series of choices (2.0 errors under control conditions), similarly applied dDAVP deteriorated the rats performance almost to the chance level of 3 errors. The significance of short-term memory tests for assessing the mnestic role of peptide hormones is stressed.