title: The cardiovascular effects of centrally administered taurine in anaesthetised and conscious rats.
abstract: The effects of pentobarbitone anaesthesia on the cardiovascular changes induced by centrally administered taurine have been investigated in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive rats. Administration of taurine (100-400 micrograms) into the lateral cerebral ventricle (i.c.v.) of anaesthetised SHR and normotensive rats induced a dose-related fall in systemic blood pressure and heart rate, which tended to be of a greater magnitude in the SHR. In anaesthetised rats attached to a ventilator, taurine was not as potent at inducing a fall in systemic blood pressure, approximately double the dose being required to produce the same cardiovascular changes as that which occurred in anaesthetised rats without a ventilator. In conscious normotensive rats taurine had no effect on blood pressure until a dose of 800 micrograms was administered i.c.v., whereas in conscious SHR, a small, but significant depressor response was evident with 400 micrograms. These findings demonstrate that pentobarbitone anaesthesia sensitises the rats to the cardiovascular effects of taurine, partially through a mechanism which involves respiratory depression. Conversely in conscious rats a much higher dose of taurine is required to induce a fall in arterial pressure and heart rate per se.
authors.affiliation: Merrell Dow Research Institute, Strasbourg Center, France.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Petty
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Di Francesco
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012119:Respiration / Q000187:drug effects; D013654:Taurine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013654:Taurine