title: Cardiovascular effects of L-glutamate and tetrodotoxin microinjected into the rostral and caudal ventrolateral medulla in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the responsiveness of the rostral and caudal ventrolateral medulla in spontaneously hypertensive (SH) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats to microinjection of L-glutamate, and to estimate tonic output of these areas by microinjecting the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin. Rats were anesthetized with 1.25 g/kg urethane s.c., implanted with arterial (femoral) and venous (femoral) catheters, artificially ventilated and paralyzed with gallamine triethiodide (10 mg/kg). Using a ventral approach to the brainstem, the mean arterial pressure and heart rate responses to microinjection (30 nl) of L-glutamate (1, 10 and 100 mM) and tetrodotoxin (10 microM) into the rostral and caudal ventrolateral medulla were compared in SH (n = 7) and WKY (n = 7) groups. Microinjection of L-glutamate into the rostral ventrolateral medulla produced equivalent increases in mean arterial pressure (maximum +33 +/- 3 and +36 +/- 6 mm Hg, SH and WKY groups respectively) and minimal changes in heart rate. Similar administration of L-glutamate into the caudal ventrolateral medulla caused decreases in mean arterial pressure and heart rate; changes in mean arterial pressure were significantly greater in the SH group than in the WKY group (-52.3 +/- 2.9 mm Hg for SH, -22.6 +/- 2.6 mm Hg for WKY). Bilateral microinjection of tetrodotoxin into the caudal ventrolateral medulla produced significantly larger increases of mean arterial pressure in WKY rats (+8 +/- 4 vs +46 +/- 8 mm Hg for SH vs WKY). These data indicate that SH rats may have a lower tonic activity of neurons in the caudal ventrolateral medulla, resulting in a lower restraining influence on sympathetic outflow in the SH rat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40536-0084.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Barron
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D005971:Glutamates; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D013779:Tetrodotoxin