title: Involvement of nuclei in the hypothalamus in cardiac sympathoexcitatory reflexes in cats.
abstract: The hypothalamus is considered to be an important area in the central regulation of cardiovascular function. However, its role in processing excitatory cardiovascular reflexes induced by stimulation of cardiac afferents has not been established. In the present study, using c-Fos immunoreactivity, we located neurons in the hypothalamus activated by inputs from cardiac sympathetic afferents. Following bilateral barodenervation and cervical vagotomy in anesthetized cats, bradykinin (BK, 1-10 microg, in 0.1 ml; n=7) was applied repetitively (6x, every 20 min) to the anterior epicardial surface of the left ventricle. This chemical stimulation caused consistent excitatory cardiovascular reflexes characterized by increases in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), while the vehicle for BK (0.9% saline, n=6) produced no such responses. Compared to control cats, c-Fos immunoreactive cells were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the arcuate nucleus (ARC), dorsal hypothalamic area (HDA), dorsomedial nucleus, paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) and periventricular nucleus in the BK-treated animals. More neurons double-labeled with c-Fos and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were observed in the PVN following epicardial application of BK (P<0.05). There was no significant increase in co-localization of these two labelings in the other nuclei. These results suggest that several nuclei in the hypothalamus respond to activation of cardiac sympathetic afferents, leading to sympathoexcitatory reflexes. Nitric oxide (NO) may function as a neurotransmitter or as a neuromodulator in the PVN during these cardiac-cardiovascular responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, C240 Medical Science 1, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-4075, USA. zguo@uci.edu
authors.forename: Zhi-Ling
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ali R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Moazzami
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D017763:Autonomic Denervation / Q000379:methods; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D001920:Bradykinin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002415:Cats; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000187:drug effects; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase; D001920:Bradykinin