Arginine vasopressin as a target in the treatment of acute heart failure

Table 1 Location and effect of vasopressin receptors[13,17,21,23-25]

Receptor subtype	Location	Action	Cardiovascular end effects
V1A	Liver, vascular smooth muscle, platelets, adrenal cortex, kidney, spleen, adipocytes, reproductive organs, brain, lung	Vasoconstriction	Left ventricular hypertrophy and remodeling, increase in afterload, myocyte hypertrophy
V1B	Corticotroph cells, pancreas, adrenal medulla, possibly kidney	Release of adrenocorticotropic hormone	May mediate release of aldosterone
V2	Renal collecting ducts	Antidiuresis via increased water permeability	Hyponatremia, edema, increase in preload, pulmonary vascular congestion and left sided filling pressures