pressor

DEFINITION:

Tending to increase blood pressure; said of nerves and chemical substances.

antidiuretic

DEFINITION:

1. Suppressing the rate of urine formation.

2. An agent that suppresses urine formation.

properties

DEFINITION:

Properties are characteristic qualities, abilities, capabilities, or functions.

hormone

DEFINITION:

A product of living cells that circulates in body fluids and produces a specific effect on the activity of cells remote from its point of origin; especially: one exerting a stimulatory effect on a cellular activity.

hypophysiotropic hormones - Hormones produced by the hypothalamus, usually releasing hormones (see below), which maintain the endocrine functions of cells of the adenohypophysis.

neurohormone - A hormone secreted by a specialized neuron into the bloodstream, the cerebrospinal fluid, or the intercellular spaces of the nervous system.

releasing hormones - Hormones elaborated in one structure that cause the release of hormones from another structure, such as those from the hypothalamus that act on the adenohypophysis. The term is applied to substances of established chemical identity, whereas substances of unknown chemical structure are called releasing factors .

characterized

DEFINITION:

Marked or distinguished as a characteristic.

synthesize

DEFINITION:

To produce by means of synthesis.

vasopressin

DEFINITION:

1. One of two octapeptide hormones formed by the neuronal cells of the hypothalamic nuclei and stored in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland (neurohypophysis), the other being oxytocin. It stimulates the contraction of the muscular tissue of the capillaries and arterioles, raising the blood pressure. It promotes contraction of the intestinal musculature and increases peristalsis, and also exerts some contractile influence on the uterus. It also has a specific effect on the epithelial cells of the distal portion of the uriniferous tubule, augmenting resorption of water independently of solutes, resulting in concentration of urine and dilution of blood serum. Its rate of secretion is regulated chiefly by the osmolarity of the plasma.

2. [USP], A pharmaceutical preparation of the same principle, prepared synthetically or obtained from the posterior pituitary of healthy domestic animals used for food by man; used mainly as an antidiuretic in the treatment of acute or chronic diabetes insipidus, administered intramuscularly as a test of hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-renal function in distinguishing central from nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; it may also be used to stimulate smooth muscle tissue, especially to induce vasoconstriction in the presence of hemorrhage. Called also antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

selective

DEFINITION:

Having a high degree of selectivity.

biologic

DEFINITION:

Pertaining to biology.

desmopressin

DEFINITION:

Desmopressin acetate - a potent synthetic analogue of vasopressin used intranasally, intramuscularly, or intravenously as an antidiuretic in pituitary diabetes insipidus.

formulated

DEFINITION:

1. Stated in the form of a formula.

2. Prepared in accordance with a prescribed or specified method.