CENTRALLY MEDIATED CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO INTRACISTERNAL INJECTIONS OF SYMPATHOMIMETIC AMINES IN ANESTHETIZED RATS

Abstract

The cardiovascular effects resulting from intracisternal (i.c.) injections of sympathomimetic amines were studied in .alpha.-chloralose-urethanized rats. Norepinephrine (0.5-5 .mu.g i.c.) caused a typical rise in blood pressure with no significant change in heart rate and a fall in blood pressure with a bradycardia, which were completely blocked after treatment with phentolamine (10-50 .mu.g i.c.). L-isoproterenol (0.05-0.5 .mu.g i.c.) and trimetoquinol (0.5-3 .mu.g i.c.), a .beta.- sympathomimetic agent, usually caused a fall in blood pressure with a tachycardia, which was reduced after treatment with propranolol (10-50 .mu.g i.c.), but trimetoquinol was inclined to cause a rise in blood pressure with a tachycardia. Epinephrine (5 .mu.g i.c.) showed both centrally mediated .alpha.- and .beta.-sympathomimetic effects. Tyramine (0.5-1 mg i.c.) caused mixed blood pressure responses presumably due to a release of norepinephrine and epinephrine, and these responses were partially blocked after treatment with phentolamine (100 .mu.g i.c.) or propranolol (50 .mu.g i.c.). Both .alpha.- and .beta.-sensitive adrenergic zones may exist on the vasomotor center of the pons and medulla in rats, and both norepinephrine and epinephrine might centrally play a physiological role as the neurotransmitters controlling blood pressure in rats.