ABSTRACT
Since arginine vasotocin (AVT) effects are mediated by serotonin, which was involved in the production of eating disorders, disorders which show many common mechanisms with the depressive disorders, and since AVT was used as treatment of depressive disorders, we investigated the AVT effects in a double-blind study with patients with eating disorders. We compared AVT effects on 15 patients with eating disorders to 18 patients with eating disorders which received tricyclic antidepressants or cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. The severity of depression was assessed by means of the Hamilton Depression Scale and of Beck's Depression Inventory, before and after three months therapy. Data showed a significant improvement of depressive symptomatology after AVT treatment. Comparison of AVT effects on depression of eating disorders subgroups versus tricyclic antidepressant or psychotherapy treatment are discussed.
Subject(s)
Anorexia Nervosa/complications , Bulimia/drug therapy , Depression/drug therapy , Vasotocin/therapeutic use , Adolescent , Adult , Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic/therapeutic use , Bulimia/complications , Depression/complications , Double-Blind Method , Female , Humans , Vasotocin/administration & dosageABSTRACT
In mentally retarded (MR) prepubertal children, investigated both before and after six months of treatment, synthetic arginine vasotocin (AVT) (10(-6) mg/day/0.1 ml, intranasally), but not oxytocin or saline alone, significantly increased the intelligence quotient (IQ) and improved the attention parameters without affecting the short-term memory. Taking into account both the psychometric results and the clinical observations, the effects of AVT could be mainly explained by assuming the improvement of attention. Since there was a significant inverse correlation between the pretreatment levels of the IQ and attention scores and their increase after AVT, and since the AVT effects tend to be more intense in autistic children, we hypothesize that the more affected the attention mechanisms, the more they are sensitive to AVT. The present results are tentatively explained by the paradoxical sleep-enhancing properties of AVT, mechanisms by which AVT could improve the brain plasticity in MR subjects and by this, the attention performance.