Biomedical subjects

B E Beckwith

Publications and source records attributed to B E Beckwith.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Arginine vasopressin facilitates reversal learning in albino, but not hooded rats.

Male Holtzman albino and Long-Evans hooded rats were administered one microgram of arginine vasopressin (AVP) or a placebo each day after the acquisition trials of a visual white-black discrimination. Animals were then trained in the reversal of the discrimination. Performance was assessed by the number of trials to criterion during acquisition and reversal. Treatment with AVP resulted in significantly fewer trials to criterion during reversal learning in Holtzman albino rats, but did not influence reversal learning in Long-Evans hooded rats. These results provide evidence that AVP may have differential actions on memory processes in different strains of rats.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prenatal exposure to AVP or caffeine but not oxytocin alters learning in female rats.

Rats whose mothers had been treated with 1 microgram of arginine vasopressin (AVP) or oxytocin (OXT), 15 mg of caffeine, or saline on days 13-19 of gestation were given training on a passive avoidance response as adults. Female rats whose mothers had been exposed to either AVP or caffeine demonstrated enhanced retention of the response. No effects were found for male rats or for exposure to oxytocin. These results suggest that prenatal exposure to AVP or caffeine produced sexually dimorphic effects on learning and that the effects are specific to the structure of AVP.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dose-dependent effects of DDAVP on memory in healthy young adult males: a preliminary study.

Although several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the vasopressin analog DDAVP in enhancing human memory, no previous study has reported the dose-response relationship of DDAVP to memory in healthy young adults. The present study was undertaken to explore the dose-response curve for DDAVP on recall of implicational sentences. Five doses of DDAVP (0, 5, 15, 30, and 60 micrograms) were administered intranasally to healthy young adult male volunteers. Results demonstrated a facilitation in cued recall after treatment with the 60-micrograms dose and a general impairment in recall after treatment with the 15-micrograms dose. These effects were independent of subject's weight, vocabulary ability, and concentration of salivary cortisol.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of DDAVP on gender-specific verbal and visuospatial tasks in healthy young adults.

Although several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the vasopressin analog DDAVP in enhancing human cognition, few previous studies have explored possible interactions of treatment with DDAVP and gender in healthy young adults. The present study was undertaken to explore the effects of treatment with DDAVP on gender-specific tasks. Male and female volunteers were treated with either DDAVP or saline and asked to recall lists of words and to perform the Paper Folding and Stroop Color Word Tests. Although treatment with DDAVP produced few effects in these tasks, the effects that were noted involved impairment of performance.

Adolescent↗