title: Learning of physiological responses: II. Classical conditioning of the baroreflex.
abstract: The baroreflex can be classically conditioned. In neuromuscular blocked (NMB) rats, electrical stimulation of the aortic depressor nerve (ADN) and dopamine-produced blood pressure rise were effective unconditioned stimuli (UCS) for auditory discriminative classical conditioning. The conditioned response (CR) pattern (bradycardia, vasodilatation, and hypotension > 10 torr) closely resembled that of the unconditioned baroreflex. Conditioned stimulus (CS) specificity was demonstrated by discrimination of baroreflex-associated and nonassociated auditory stimuli, and also by elaborating depressor and pressor CRs to auditory CSs, which respectively had been associated with either baro-afferent (depressor) or tail-shock (pressor) UCSs. The conditioned-baroreflex-magnitude increased with trials. These findings support quantitative models in which CRs interact with and calibrate the gain and dynamic properties of natural reflexes.
authors: Department of Behavioral Science, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey 17033, USA. brdl@psu.edu
authors: B R
authors: BR
authors: Dworkin
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Dworkin
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000294:innervation; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D011311:Pressoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine