hide
Free keywords:
AVP, Vasopressin, Stress, Brattleboro rat, Hormone, HPA axis
Abstract:
The nonapeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) has long been suggested to
play an important role as a secretagogue for triggering the activity of
the endocrine stress response. Most recent studies employed mutant mice
for analyzing the importance of AVP for endocrine regulation under
stress. However, it is difficult to compare and draw overall conclusions
from all these studies as mixing the genetic material from different
mouse strains has consequences on the individual's stress response.
Moreover, mice are not ideal subjects for several experimental
procedures. Therefore, to get more insight, we used a rather old mutant
rat model: the AVP-deficient Brattleboro rat. The present short review
is aimed at providing the most interesting results of these studies
within the last 8 years that allowed gaining new insights in the
potential signal function of AVP in stress and endocrine regulation.
