title: The brain-heart connection: frontal cortex and left ventricle angiotensinase activities in control and captopril-treated hypertensive rats-a bilateral study.
abstract: The model of neurovisceral integration suggests that the frontal cortex (FC) and the cardiovascular function are reciprocally and asymmetrically connected. We analyzed several angiotensinase activities in the heart left ventricle (VT) of control and captopril-treated SHR, and we search for a relationship between these activities and those determined in the left and right FC. Captopril was administered in drinking water for 4 weeks. Samples from the left VT and from the left and right FC were obtained. Soluble and membrane-bound enzymatic activities were measured fluorometrically using arylamides as substrates. The weight of heart significantly decreased after treatment with captopril, mainly, due to the reduction of the left VT weight. In the VT, no differences for soluble activities were observed between control and treated SHR. In contrast, a generalized significant reduction was observed for membrane-bound activities. The most significant correlations between FC and VT were observed in the right FC of the captopril-treated group. The other correlations, right FC versus VT and left FC versus VT in controls and left FC versus VT in the captopril group, were few and low. These results confirm that the connection between FC and cardiovascular system is asymmetrically organized.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Physiology, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Segarra
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Banegas
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Villarejo
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wangensteen
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Gasparo
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vives
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Sánchez