Intravenous kisspeptin 112-121 bolus does not acutely impact circulating vasopressin in humans.

Arginine-vasopressin (AVP) deficiency (AVP-D) is caused by hypothalamic-pituitary damage of vasopressinergic neurons leading to polyuria and polydipsia. Diagnostic tests for AVP-D are limited by low accuracy and/or tolerability. Kisspeptin (KP) stimulates AVP release in animals, but no study has investigated KP as a provocative test for AVP-D in humans. We investigated circulating AVP levels in response to intravenous (IV) KP in adults. We also explored sex differences in AVP response to KP. Twelve healthy adults (50% female) received an IV KP bolus. Serum AVP was measured pre- and 10, 20, 40, and 60 min post-KP. AVP levels were higher in males at all time points (p = .028) and did not change in response to KP. KP did not stimulate AVP, possibly due to dose, administration route, or cross-species differences in the AVP system. Our study does not support IV KP bolus of 0.24 nmol/kg as a provocative test for AVP-D. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Our study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00914823).