Contrasting effects of vasopressin on baroreflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity

1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (5) ◽  
pp. H922-H928 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Sharabi ◽  
G. B. Guo ◽  
F. M. Abboud ◽  
M. D. Thames ◽  
P. G. Schmid

Baroreflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity (LSNA) during intravenous infusions of phenylephrine and vasopressin is contrasted in rats and rabbits. In rabbits, vasopressin caused smaller increases in arterial pressure and greater inhibition of LSNA than phenylephrine. In Sprague-Dawley rats, however, both vasopressin and phenylephrine caused equivalent increases in arterial pressure and reflex reductions in LSNA. The inhibition of LSNA was mediated through the arterial baroreceptors in both species because it was abolished by sinoaortic denervation. In rats, the possibility that a high level of endogenous vasopressin may have prevented the demonstration of a facilitated baroreflex with the infusion of exogenous vasopressin is unlikely since vasopressin also did not facilitate the reflex in Brattleboro rats, which lack circulating vasopressin. Further, Sprague-Dawley rats were responsive to exogenous vasopressin since infusion of increasing doses of vasopressin caused significant increases in urinary osmolality as well as progressive increments in arterial pressure. The results indicate that intravenous vasopressin given for a period of 6 min facilitates the reflex inhibition of LSNA mediated through arterial baroreceptors in rabbits, but not in rats. Vasopressin given for a period of up to 45 min to rats also fails to facilitate baroreflexes, emphasizing the difference from rabbits. In rabbits, this facilitation appears to involve a central mechanism.

2013 ◽  
Vol 304 (11) ◽  
pp. H1538-H1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany S. Luckett ◽  
Jennifer L. Frielle ◽  
Lawrence Wolfgang ◽  
Sean D. Stocker

Accumulating evidence suggests that insulin acts within the hypothalamus to alter sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and baroreflex function. Although insulin receptors are widely expressed across the hypothalamus, recent evidence suggests that neurons of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) play an important role in the sympathoexcitatory response to insulin. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether circulating insulin acts directly in the ARC to elevate SNA. In anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats (275–425 g), the action of insulin was neutralized by microinjection of an anti-insulin affibody (1 ng/40 nl). To verify the efficacy of the affibody, ARC pretreatment with injection of the anti-insulin affibody completely prevented the increase in lumbar SNA produced by ARC injection of insulin. Next, ARC pretreatment with the anti-insulin affibody attenuated the lumbar sympathoexcitatory response to intracerebroventricular injection of insulin. Third, a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp increased lumbar, but not renal, SNA in animals that received ARC injection of a control affibody. However, this sympathoexcitatory response was absent in animals pretreated with the anti-insulin affibody in the ARC. Injection of the anti-insulin affibody in the adjacent ventromedial hypothalamus did not alter the sympathoexcitatory response to insulin. The ability of the anti-insulin affibody to prevent the sympathetic effects of insulin cannot be attributed to a general inactivation or nonspecific effect on ARC neurons as the affibody did not alter the sympathoexcitatory response to ARC disinhibition by gabazine. Collectively, these findings suggest that circulating insulin acts within the ARC to increase SNA.


2003 ◽  
Vol 284 (5) ◽  
pp. H1751-H1761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvan S. Shank ◽  
Deborah A. Scheuer

We tested the hypothesis that glucocorticoids attenuate changes in arterial pressure and renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) in response to activation and blockade of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors within the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). Experiments were performed in Inactin-anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats treated for 7 ± 1 days with a subcutaneous corticosterone (Cort) pellet or in control rats. Baseline mean arterial pressure (MAP) was significantly higher in Cort-treated rats (109 ± 2 mmHg, n = 39) than in control rats (101 ± 1 mmHg, n = 48, P < 0.05). In control rats, microinjection of AMPA (0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 pmol/100 nl) into the NTS significantly decreased MAP at all doses and decreased RSNA at 0.1 and 0.3 pmol/100 nl. Responses to AMPA in Cort-treated rats were attenuated at all doses of AMPA ( P < 0.05). Responses to the AMPA-kainate receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) were also significantly reduced in Cort-treated rats relative to control rats. Blockade of glucocorticoid type II receptors with mifepristone significantly enhanced responses to CNQX in both control and Cort rats. We conclude that glucocorticoids attenuate MAP and RSNA responses to activation and blockade of AMPA receptors in the NTS.


1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (2) ◽  
pp. R609-R614 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. MacNeil ◽  
A. H. Jansen ◽  
L. J. Janz ◽  
A. H. Greenberg ◽  
D. M. Nance

We tested whether prostaglandin synthesis mediates the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced increase in splenic sympathetic nerve activity. Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with intravenous or intracerebroventricular injections of indomethacin, and splenic nerve activity was recorded after intravenous injections of LPS. In vehicle-pretreated rats, 100 micrograms LPS induced a 62.8 +/- 5.6% increase in splenic nerve activity beginning 22.7 +/- 2.7 min postinjection. All vehicle-pretreated animals responded to high (100 micrograms, 5 of 5 animals) and low (10 micrograms, 8 of 8 animals) doses of LPS. Both intravenous (15 mg/kg) and intracerebroventricular (50 micrograms) pretreatments with indomethacin delayed (F1.19 = 30.66, P < 0.001) the increase in nerve activity after 100 micrograms LPS. When given intravenously, 50 micrograms indomethacin (the intracerebroventricular dose) did not delay the response to intravenous LPS, indicating that the effects of intracerebroventricular indomethacin pretreatment were restricted to the central nervous system. Importantly, intracerebroventricular indomethacin reduced (2 of 7 animals) or completely blocked (5 of 7 animals) the splenic nerve response to the low dose of LPS (10 micrograms, iv). The indomethacin effects could not be accounted for by central release of vasopressin because intracerebroventricular injection of indomethacin did not alter baseline nerve activity or blood pressure, whereas intracerebroventricular injection of vasopressin rapidly increased both measures. Additionally, central injection of LPS did not elevate splenic nerve activity, whereas intracerebroventricular injection of prostaglandin E2 induced a rapid (2.2 +/- 2.7 min) increase in splenic nerve activity. These data indicate that central prostaglandin synthesis is an intermediate step whereby systemic LPS elicits an increase in sympathetic outflow to an immune organ.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (4) ◽  
pp. R834-R841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Julien ◽  
Bruno Chapuis ◽  
Yong Cheng ◽  
Christian Barrès

The role of arterial baroreceptors in controlling arterial pressure (AP) variability through changes in sympathetic nerve activity was examined in conscious rats. AP and renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) were measured continuously during 1-h periods in freely behaving rats that had been subjected to sinoaortic baroreceptor denervation (SAD) or a sham operation 2 wk before study ( n = 10 in each group). Fast Fourier transform analysis revealed that chronic SAD did not alter high-frequency (0.75-5 Hz) respiratory-related oscillations of mean AP (MAP) and RSNA, decreased by ∼50% spectral power of both variables in the midfrequency band (MF, 0.27-0.74 Hz) containing the so-called Mayer waves, and induced an eightfold increase in MAP power without altering RSNA power in the low-frequency band (0.005-0.27 Hz). In both groups of rats, coherence between RSNA and MAP was maximal in the MF band and was usually weak at lower frequencies. In SAD rats, the transfer function from RSNA to MAP showed the characteristics of a second-order low-pass filter containing a fixed time delay (∼0.5 s). These results indicate that arterial baroreceptors are not involved in production of respiratory-related oscillations of RSNA but play a major role in the genesis of synchronous oscillations of MAP and RSNA at the frequency of Mayer waves. The weak coupling between slow fluctuations of RSNA and MAP in sham-operated and SAD rats points to the interference of noise sources unrelated to RSNA affecting MAP and of noise sources unrelated to MAP affecting RSNA.


1998 ◽  
Vol 275 (6) ◽  
pp. H2130-H2139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadeusz J. Scislo ◽  
Donal S. O’Leary

Activation of adenosine A2a and ATP P2x purinoceptors in the subpostremal nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) via microinjection of the selective agonists CGS-21680 and α,β-methylene ATP (α,β-MeATP), respectively, elicits large dose-dependent decreases in arterial pressure and heart rate, differential regional vasodilation, and differential inhibition of regional sympathetic outputs. With marked hypotensive hemorrhage, preganglionic adrenal sympathetic nerve activity (pre-ASNA) increases, whereas renal (RSNA) and postganglionic adrenal sympathetic nerve activity (post-ASNA) decrease. In this setting, adenosine levels in the brain stem increase. Therefore, we investigated whether stimulation of specific purinoceptors in the NTS may evoke differential sympathetic responses. RSNA was recorded simultaneously with pre-ASNA or post-ASNA in chloralose-urethan-anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats. CGS-21680 (2 and 20 pmol in 50 nl) inhibited RSNA and post-ASNA, whereas pre-ASNA increased markedly. α,β-MeATP (25 and 100 pmol in 50 nl) inhibited all sympathetic outputs. Sinoaortic denervation plus vagotomy markedly prolonged the responses to P2x-purinoceptor stimulation. Glutamate (100 pmol in 50 nl) caused differential inhibition of all sympathetic outputs similar to that evoked by α,β-MeATP. We conclude that NTS A2a-purinoceptor activation evokes differential sympathetic responses similar to those observed during hemorrhage, whereas P2x-purinoceptor and glutamate-receptor activation evokes differential inhibition of sympathetic outputs similar to arterial baroreflex responses.


1986 ◽  
Vol 251 (3) ◽  
pp. H644-H655 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. B. Guo ◽  
P. G. Schmid ◽  
F. M. Abboud

We recently reported that intravenous vasopressin in anesthetized rabbits facilitates baroreflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the possible sites of this facilitation. We found that intravenous infusion of vasopressin (16-32 mU X kg-1 X min-1) caused greater inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity than did phenylephrine for a given increase in aortic baroreceptor activity, suggesting a "central" action of vasopressin. A central action was supported also by the observation that the carotid baroreflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity was augmented by intravenous infusion of vasopressin when the carotid sinuses were isolated, filled with saline, and distended (aortic depressor and vagal nerves were cut). On the other hand, vasopressin also facilitated baroreflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity through an influence on arterial baroreceptors, because intravenous vasopressin caused greater afferent activity of the aortic depressor nerve per unit rise in arterial pressure than did phenylephrine. In a separate group of rabbits, intravenous infusion of vasopressin also elevated the level of afferent aortic depressor activity during increases in arterial pressure induced by intra-aortic balloon inflation. Furthermore, when vasopressin was confined to the isolated carotid sinuses, the reflex inhibition of lumbar sympathetic nerve activity during distension of carotid sinuses was augmented. We conclude that circulating vasopressin facilitates baroreflex inhibition of sympathetic nerve activity through a central nervous system action as well as through an effect on arterial baroreceptors.


1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (5) ◽  
pp. H1399-H1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Tanabe ◽  
R. D. Bunag

To determine whether baroreflex sensitivity changes with age, we compared drug-induced reflex responses in 2- and 9-mo-old female Sprague-Dawley rats anesthetized with urethan-chloralose. Baroreflexes were stimulated by elevating or lowering blood pressure with intravenous infusions of phenylephrine or sodium nitroprusside. Reflex responses in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity during phenylephrine infusions were weaker in 9- than in 2-mo-old rats, as were reflex tachycardia during sodium nitroprusside infusion and decreases in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity elicited by electrical stimulation of the left aortic depressor nerve. Afferent aortic nerve activity was also appreciably lower in 9-mo-old rats at pressures greater than 130 mmHg but did not differ between rat groups at normotensive pressures. These results suggest that baroreflex sensitivity in 9-mo-old rats can be characterized as follows: 1) impaired at pressures greater than 130 mmHg but still adequate at normotensive pressures, and 2) all reflex arc components may be impaired.


2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (4) ◽  
pp. R1114-R1120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misa Yoshimoto ◽  
Keiko Nagata ◽  
Kenju Miki

The present study was designed to document changes in sympathetic nerve activity and cardiovascular function when conscious rats were challenged with a noise stressor to induce freezing behavior. The potential contribution of the arterial baroreceptors in regulating sympathetic nerve activity and cardiovascular adjustments during the freezing behavior was then examined. Wistar male rats were assigned to sham-operated (SO) and sinoaortic-denervated (SAD) groups and instrumented chronically with electrodes for measurements of renal (RSNA) and lumbar (LSNA) sympathetic nerve activity, electroencephalogram, electromyogram, and electrocardiogram and catheters for measurements of systemic arterial and central venous pressure. Both SO and SAD rats were exposed to 90 dB of white noise for 10 min, causing freezing behavior in both groups. In SO rats, freezing behavior was associated with an immediate and significant ( P < 0.05) increase in RSNA, no changes in LSNA or mean arterial pressure, and a significant ( P < 0.05) decrease in heart rate. SAD attenuated the magnitude of the immediate increase in RSNA and had no influence on the response in LSNA during freezing behavior compared with SO rats. Moreover, in SAD rats, mean arterial pressure increased significantly ( P < 0.05) while heart rate did not change during the freezing behavior. These data indicate that freezing behavior evokes regionally different changes in sympathetic outflows, which may be involved in generating the patterned responses of cardiovascular function to stressful or threatening sensory stimulation. Moreover, it is suggested that the arterial baroreceptors are involved in generating the differential changes in RSNA and LSNA and thus the patterned changes in cardiovascular functions observed during freezing behavior in conscious rats.


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