Arginine vasopressin, but not corticotropin releasing factor, is a potent stimulator of adrenocorticotropic hormone following electroconvulsive treatment.

Neuroendocrine responses to the hypothalamic pituitary-adrenal axis following electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) were evaluated in twelve depressed (6 males/6 females) patients. Plasma concentrations of arginine vasopressin (AVP), corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), corticotropin (ACTH), and cortisol were measured using radioimmunological methods at four different ECT occasions. At each occasion plasma samples were taken immediately before ECT, at the recovery of spontaneous breathing and at 10 and 30 minutes after the ECT. No changes were observed in the plasma CRF concentrations. A large and rapid increase in plasma AVP concentrations was seen after the ECTs. This was followed by increased plasma ACTH and plasma cortisol levels. It is generally believed that AVP exerts a modulatory potentiating action on the CRF-induced ACTH release. The present results demonstrate that AVP per se can cause a release of ACTH from the anterior pituitary.