title: Restraining effect of captopril on cardiovascular sympathetic efferent neural activity.
abstract: In 13 decerebrate cats we studied the effects of captopril (10 mg/kg, intravenous bolus) on the background cardiac preganglionic sympathetic discharge and on its responsiveness to brief baroreceptor deactivations induced by premature ventricular contractions. Captopril caused a significant reduction of 57 +/- 7% (from 2.4 +/- 0.4 impulses/0.1s) in sympathetic discharge, with a mean latency of 35 +/- 3 min from the time of drug administration. In addition, the increase in cardiac sympathetic firing during premature ventricular contractions was markedly reduced, from 257 +/- 30% to 70 +/- 17%, before and after administration of captopril. These data indicate that captopril is not only likely to inhibit sympathetic discharge to the heart, but is also likely to restrain the excitatory sympathetic responses to baroreceptor deactivation.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Ricerche Cardiovascolari, CNR, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gnecchi-Ruscone
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Montano
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Finocchiaro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Contini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malliani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002216:Captopril / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002415:Cats; D003655:Decerebrate State; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D009476:Neurons, Efferent / Q000187:drug effects*; D011311:Pressoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002216:Captopril