Vasopressin Induces Emesis in Suncus murinus

Abstract

This paper reports that vasopressin is emetogenic in the house musk shrew Suncus murinus. Either intravenous or intracerebroventricular administration of vasopressin caused vomiting within a few minutes. The ED50 of intravenous vasopressin was as high as 4.67 μ g /kg, whereas intracerebroventricularly injected vasopressin was effective at a low dose of 20 ng /brain. The emetogenic target of vasopressin may therefore be present in the central nervous system. We propose the Suncus as a useful animal for investigation of vasopressin-mediated emesis, including motion sickness.