Effects of desmopressin (DDAVP) on memory impairment following ...

Abdollahian et al.
differences between evaluation times 1 and 2, and
1 and 3 were seen. We may conclude that ECT is
more effective for the mental control process.
Although changes in these two subscores in the
case group did not reveal any significant difference,
comparison <strong>of</strong> the two groups showed a
statistically significant difference and confirmed
the effect <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong> on these two aspects <strong>of</strong>
memory (Table 2).
Long-term memory, which may be constructed
by physical, chemical, and structural changes in
neurons and their connections, seems to be stabilized
by different hormones and neurotransmitters.
In the process <strong>of</strong> stabilization, long-term data
become stable by neuronal plasticity, LTD, and
LTP, which makes them resistant to neurological
damage. However, as was seen in this study, shortterm
memory seems not to be based on structural
changes in neurons and is not well stabilized and
may be more affected by ECT (Table 1). This
vulnerability was more prominent with regard to
visual memory. In the control group, the visual
memory score was decreased by 13.95% after
three sessions <strong>of</strong> ECT and 25.32% after six
sessions. However, as shown in Table 2, while no
visual memory impairment was seen in the case
group following ECT, an increase (about 45%)
wasobservedincomparisonbetweentimes1and3
after 15 days <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong> administration.
This means there is a special effect for <strong>desmopressin</strong>
on visual memory. These results confirm
Laczi et al.’s (11) report on the effects <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong>
on patients with memory impairment but
with no impairment in attention or concentration.
According to previous studies, a function <strong>of</strong> the
hippocampus may to help with orientation learning
in the environment and the hippocampus is
able to code the data according to time, place,
and order.
This study shows the effects <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong> in
the prevention <strong>of</strong> memory impairment following
ECT and supports the results <strong>of</strong> previous studies
suggesting the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong> in the treatment
<strong>of</strong> memory impairment and its effects on normal
memory. Beckwith and Till (12) found that
<strong>desmopressin</strong> facilitates memory recall. Tiller et al.
(13) also reported positive effects on immediate
memory in the first week <strong>of</strong> treatment. Weingartner
et al. (14), in their study on patients with memory
defects, found that <strong>desmopressin</strong> facilitates
learning processes like completing sentences,
organization, and retrograde memory after ECT.
As noted before, in the comparison <strong>of</strong> all WMS
subscores between the case and control groups,
except for knowing personal and current information
(in the comparison between evaluation times 1
136
and 2), in all other subscores and all evaluation
times, there were significant differences, with
decreases in the subscores in the control group,
while such decreases were not seen in the case
group receiving the same ECT. There was even
an increase in some subscores (about 19% for
evaluation times 1 and 2, 21% for times 2 and 3,
and 45% for times 1 and 3). All these data support
the hypothesis <strong>of</strong> this study concerning the diminishing
effects <strong>of</strong> <strong>desmopressin</strong> on memory impairments
following ECT.
Comparison <strong>of</strong> the changes in memory quality
between men and women in the control group
revealed no significant differences between evaluation
times 1 and 2, 2 and 3, and 1 and 3 (Table 5),
showing that ECT results in a manifest decrease
in memory quality in both men and women.
Although the decrease in memory quality in
women seems higher than in men ( 6.27% for
women and 5.55% for men for times 1 and 2,
and 3.88% for women and 3.70 for men for
times 1 and 3), these differences are not statistically
significant. This means that ECT results in
memory impairment in both men and women
and that the degree <strong>of</strong> impairment is not different
in men and women. This contrasts with the results
<strong>of</strong> previous studies which claimed that memory
impairment following ECT was more dominant
in women than in men. This may be because all
the women in this study were similar in age and in
other characteristics (all were between the ages 20
and 40 and all were fertile). Since cognitive defects
in women are probably affected by other factors,
such as menopause, old age, or hormonal changes
during pregnancy, we tried to select women with
similar characteristics. They also had similar characteristics
to the male group in order to eliminate
probable interfering factors.
We found that <strong>desmopressin</strong> was effective in
the inhibition <strong>of</strong> memory impairment following
ECT in both men and women (Table 5). We even
observed some increases in memory quality: 9% in
men and 5% in women. Although this increase is
higher in men, the difference is not statistically
significant. This finding is in disagreement with
the results <strong>of</strong> Beckwith and Till (13), who found
that <strong>desmopressin</strong> had positive effects in men but
not in women. They suggested different effects for
<strong>desmopressin</strong> in men and women. As mentioned
above, this difference may be due to the elimination
<strong>of</strong> interfering factors in this study, such as
age and differences in fertility or menopause, and
similarities in other areas between the women and
between the women and the men.
With regard to the permanence <strong>of</strong> the effects <strong>of</strong>
<strong>desmopressin</strong> on memory function for the case