Abstract
A number of lines of evidence suggest that the central nervous system peptide vasopressin deserves study for its role in major affective illness. For instance, vasopressin can influence several processes of significance in the symptom complex of affective illness, including alterations in the consolidation of memory, the modulation of pain sensitivity, the synchronization of biological rhythms, the timing and quality of REM sleep, and the regulation of fluid and electrolyte balance. In addition, vasopressin is functionally linked to monoamine neurotransmitter systems, and along with these systems is altered by pharmacological agents which affect mood. To study central vasopressin function in patients with affective illness, we measured the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) vasopressin and the centrally mediated plasma vasopressin response to hypertonic saline in depressed and manic subjects during a placebo period and following treatment with psychoactive agents. The results of these preliminary studies are compatible with the overall hypothesis (1) that central vasopressin function is diminished in depression and augmented in mania.
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