Arginine Vasopressin selectively enhances recognition of sexual cues in male humans

Guastella, Adam J.; Kenyon, Amanda; Unkelbach, Christian; Alvares, Gail A.; Hickie, Ian B.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.07.023

Cited by 52 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We have also previously reported findings in this same sample of participants that AVP administration alters human cognition on tests of emotional memory and word recognition [7,8]. Thus, the observed results cannot be due to a failure of the AVP nasal spray to alter other aspects of cognition.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…After completing questionnaires, participants self-administered a nasal spray (either AVP or placebo); 45 minutes later they completed a second POMS, and a test battery comprising of two recognition tasks [7,8] and the RMET. The RMET [14] assesses one's ability to read emotions from solely the eye regions from photographs of affective facial expressions.…”

Section: Materials and Procedurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In humans, we previously demonstrated that AVP nasal spray administration enhances recognition of previously seen emotional faces [7] and words [8] in healthy males. Thompson and colleagues showed that AVP enhances facial responses to neutral facial stimuli in men [9] as well as demonstrating sexually dimorphic effects in men and women on affiliative and aggressive facial motor responses to unfamiliar faces of the same sex [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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The Effects of Acute Arginine Vasopressin Administration on Social Cognition in Healthy Males

Kenyon

Alvares

Hickie

et al. 2013

Journal of Hormones

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The structurally similar neuropeptides and hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) play significant and complex roles in modulating a range of social behaviours, including social recognition and bond formation. Although OT has well-known roles in facilitating prosocial behaviors and enhancing emotion recognition, AVP has received increasing interest for diverging effects on social cognition behaviour most notably in males. The current study aimed to determine whether AVP also modulates the ability to understand emotion. Using a randomised double blind procedure, 45 healthy young males received either an AVP or placebo nasal spray and completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). In contrast to previous findings, there were no significant differences observed in performance on the RMET between AVP and placebo groups, even after examining items separated by task difficulty, emotional valence, and gender. This study provides diverging evidence from previous findings and adds to the growing body of research exploring the influence of neuropeptide hormones in social behaviour. It demonstrates that in this sample of participants, AVP does not enhance the ability to understand higher order emotion from others. Implications and suggestions for future AVP administration studies are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Materials and Procedurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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The Effects of Acute Arginine Vasopressin Administration on Social Cognition in Healthy Males

Kenyon

Alvares

Hickie

et al. 2013

Journal of Hormones

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“…However, DDAVP did not improve cognitive performance in humans with amnesia [31]. Similarly, intranasal VP enhanced emotion recognition and memory encoding in healthy male human subjects [32,33]. Furthermore, VP is critically important in social recognition, social communication, and aggression in other mammalian species suggesting good translatability to human populations [34].…”

Section: Crossmarkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Differential sensitivity of the Brattleboro rat to glutamatergic and dopaminergic perturbation

Lin¹,

Ambler²,

Billingslea³

et al. 2014

J Psychiatry Brain Funct

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Background: The vasopressin deficient Brattleboro (BRAT) rats have behavioral impairments which mimic those seen in other schizophrenia models. However, the mechanism by which vasopressin produces these behavioral abnormalities is unclear. Notably, elevations in dopamine signaling as well as reductions in glutamatergic signaling have been associated with behavioral impairments consistent with those observed in the BRAT rats. Therefore, a potential mechanism for vasopressin induces behavioral abnormalities could be through modulation of dopamine or glutamate signaling. Consequently, the aim of this study was to assess the modulatory function of vasopressin on dopamine and NMDA signaling. Methods: Single intraperitoneal injection of amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg), a dopamine agonist, and MK801 (0.25 mg/kg), a NMDA antagonist, were used to assess vasopressin (VP) modulatory activity on dopaminergic and glutamatergic pre-pulse inhibition of startle (PPI), social interaction and auditory event related potential (ERPs) impairments in BRAT and littermate control WT rats. Results: MK801-induced impairments were consistent and not significantly different between WT and BRAT rats suggesting minimal modulatory activity of vasopressin on NMDA signaling. In contrast, amphetamine-induced deficits were genotype dependent. In control animals, amphetamine caused a statistically significant deficit in PPI and social interaction whereas there was no effect in BRAT rats. Conversely, ERP components were unaltered in control rats, whereas N40 amplitude, evoked gamma power, and gamma signal to noise ratio were all elevated in BRAT rats. Conclusions:The ERP component analyses of BRAT rats treated with amphetamine suggest modulation of auditory information processing through interplay between dopaminergic and vasopressin. However, the behavioral and electrophysiological evidence presented here also suggest that vasopressin does not modulate glutamatergic signaling through NMDA receptors. Further evidence in necessary to determine the interaction between vasopressin and dopamine signaling and future studies are necessary to comprehend glutamatergic interactions with vasopressin that are not NMDA-mediated.

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“…Intranasal AVP has been reported to enhance the encoding of emotional facial expressions in humans [179], as well as improving the recognition of sexual cues [180]. Other studies indicate that intranasal AVP increases the negative emotional response to neutral facial expressions [181,182].…”

Section: Avp and Male Human Affiliationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Roles of Oxytocin and Vasopressin

Nephew¹

2012

Neuroendocrinology and Behavior

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Arginine Vasopressin selectively enhances recognition of sexual cues in male humans

Cited by 52 publications

References 15 publications

The Effects of Acute Arginine Vasopressin Administration on Social Cognition in Healthy Males

The Effects of Acute Arginine Vasopressin Administration on Social Cognition in Healthy Males

Differential sensitivity of the Brattleboro rat to glutamatergic and dopaminergic perturbation

Behavioral Roles of Oxytocin and Vasopressin

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