Vasopressin peptide analogue
Desmopressin
Desmopressin is a synthetic vasopressin analogue. Its literature helps distinguish relative selectivity from receptor exclusivity and identify findings obtained in experimentally modified cells.
This is a research reference, not a product offered in the Asciende catalog. Published studies do not establish the identity, purity or availability of a commercial preparation.
Receptor, selectivity and context
Record the receptor panel actually measured. Absence of a result for another receptor does not establish absence of activity.
- Which receptor subtype and species were evaluated?
- Was affinity, functional potency or an integrated response measured?
- Does the comparison include the alternative receptors needed for a selectivity claim?
Mechanism described in the literature
In cellular systems expressing human receptors, desmopressin showed agonism at V2 and also at V1b. Its activity at rat V1b was partial in the published comparison. Describing it as V2-selective therefore requires retaining the comparator receptor and species.
Other names in the literature
- Desmopressin
- DDAVP
Selectivity depends on the comparison
The 1997 work combined binding assays and functional measurements. In COS-1 cells expressing human V1b, desmopressin stimulated inositol turnover in vitro. This challenges an exclusively V2-based description, but does not show that every response in an organism depends equally on both receptors.
The receptor was introduced into the culture
A 2003 endothelial study used human umbilical-vein cells that did not express V2 under the original conditions. After introducing that receptor, investigators observed desmopressin-associated activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in vitro. Omitting the cellular modification would turn a mechanistic experiment into a claim about endogenous expression.
Expression and response need different evidence
The same work examined V2 transcripts in other human tissues. Distribution information is distinct from the functional experiment in modified cells. Comparisons must separate receptor presence, the system used to test signaling and the measured variable. An RNA map cannot substitute for functional evidence in each tissue.
Questions and answers
Does desmopressin recognize only V2?
Not in every system. The comparative study documented agonism at human V1b in vitro.
Did the endothelial experiment use unmodified cells?
The specific desmopressin response was examined after V2 had been introduced into the umbilical-vein cells.
Sources
- 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) as an agonist on V1b vasopressin receptor. — Biochem Pharmacol, 1997
- 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) as an agonist on V1b vasopressin receptor.
- Desmopressin (DDAVP) induces NO production in human endothelial cells via V2 receptor- and cAMP-mediated signaling. — J Thromb Haemost, 2003
- Desmopressin (DDAVP) induces NO production in human endothelial cells via V2 receptor- and cAMP-mediated signaling.