title: Renal sympathetic nerve regulation to heating is altered in rats with heart failure.
abstract: Heart failure (HF) alters the regulation of basal sympathetic nerve discharge (SND); however, the effect of HF on SND responses to acute stress is not well established. In the present study, renal SND responses to hyperthermia were determined in chloralose-anesthetized HF rats and in sham controls. Whole body heating (colonic temperature increased from 38 to 41 degrees C) was used as an acute stressor because increased internal body temperature provides a potent stimulus to the sympathetic nervous system. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and the right ventricular wt-to-body wt ratio were increased (P < 0.05) in HF compared with sham rats. The following observations were made: 1) renal sympathoexcitatory responses to heating were significantly reduced in HF compared with sham rats, 2) renal blood flow remained unchanged from control levels during heating in HF rats but was significantly reduced in sham rats, and 3) renal SND responses to heating were significantly higher in HF rats with bilateral lesions of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) compared with sham PVN-lesioned HF rats. These results demonstrate a marked attenuation in the responsiveness of renal SND to heating in HF rats and suggest that HF alters the organization of neural pathways mediating SND responses to heating.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA. Kenny@vet.ksu.edu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kenney
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Musch
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001831:Body Temperature; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D007668:Kidney / Q000098:blood supply / Q000294:innervation*; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left