title: Antihypertensive effect of the GABA receptor agonist muscimol in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Role of the sympathoadrenal axis.
abstract: The antihypertensive action of central GABA-ergic stimulation was investigated in conscious stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats. Injection of the potent GABA agonist muscimol (0.01-1 microgram) into the lateral brain ventricle (icv) lowered mean arterial blood pressure (192.1 +/- 8.4 mm Hg) dose-dependently in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats with a maximal fall of -52.7 +/- 5 mm Hg lasting for about 90 minutes. This was accompanied by bradycardia and sedation. Pretreatment with atropine (2 mg/kg, ip, or 15 micrograms/kg, icv) did not significantly influence the muscimol-induced fall in mean arterial pressure. In normotensive (109.3 +/- 1.9 mm Hg) Wistar-Kyoto controls, the maximal decrease in mean arterial pressure was -12.1 +/- 1.6 mm Hg from 109.3 +/- 1.9 mm Hg, and the duration of the effect was much less than in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, Following 1 microgram muscimol, icv, plasma noradrenaline did not fall significantly in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar-Kyoto rats, but in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, plasma adrenaline was fully suppressed (from 118.1 +/- 24.2 to 22.8 +/- 5.7 pg/ml) throughout the depressor response. The efferent sympathetic nervous activity as directly recorded from the n. splanchnicus was similar in conscious stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar-Kyoto rats, and was moderately reduced in both strains by 1 microgram muscimol, icv.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000294:innervation*; D000818:Animals; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000097:blood; D003000:Clonidine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D009118:Muscimol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010080:Oxazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000502:physiology*; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D013153:Splanchnic Nerves / Q000502:physiology; D013563:Sympathectomy, Chemical; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D014628:Vagotomy
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D010080:Oxazoles; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D009118:Muscimol; D001285:Atropine; D003000:Clonidine