Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and depression symptom effects of an arginine vasopressin type 1B receptor antagonist in a one-week randomized Phase 1b trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vasopressin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The main study objectives were to assess the safety and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) effects of ABT-436 in MDD subjects.

Why It Was Studied

Arginine vasopressin 1B receptor (V1B) antagonists may have utility for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD).

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 436 subjects were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

MDD symptoms were assessed using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17) and the subject-rated Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ).

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Vasopressin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the subjects and researchers unaware of who received Vasopressin.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vasopressin could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists, Major Depressive Disorder, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Pituitary-Adrenal System and Receptors, Vasopressin.

The authors tagged it with the keywords antidepressants, biological markers, clinical trials, depression, measurement/psychometrics and mood disorders.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vasopressin in 436 subjects.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Its findings take up roughly 9 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2017 (Brain and behavior), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vasopressin compound page, all human trials.