**8.3. AVP and male human depression and anxiety**

The first study suggesting that AVP was involved in mood disorders was from 1978 [188]. Plasma AVP is elevated in male patients with depression [95], and it has been suggested that increased AVP mRNA in the SON mediates the elevated plasma AVP levels [97]. Some have hypothesized that plasma AVP is specifically correlated to melancholic depression [97] as well as suicide [189, 190]. In terms of the prevalence of depression within a population, elevated plasma AVP is correlated with anxiety and a family history of depression [191, 192]. Resilience against depression has been associated with a SNP of the V1b receptor gene [193]. These data have generated continued interest in AVP antagonists in the treatment of mood disorders [194, 195].
