Vascular neuroeffector mechanisms in hypertension

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1146-1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Cheung

Recent studies of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system indicate the presence of other vasoactive transmitters in addition to noradrenaline. There is now evidence suggesting ATP to be a co-transmitter of noradrenaline mediating the excitatory junction potential and the phentolamine-resistant component of the vasopressor response. In hypertension, changes in the neural regulation at both pre- and post-synaptic levels have been observed. In the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), abnormal feedback regulation through presynaptic adrenoceptors and increases in release and uptake by the perivascular nerves are well characterized. Whether similar changes in the ATP release mechanism occur in the SHR and other forms of hypertension remain to be determined. A more important role for ATP in the neural regulation of the SHR tail artery has been proposed. In future studies, the possible contribution of co-transmitters to the responses should be taken into consideration.Key words: hypertension, noradrenaline, ATP, sympathetic nervous system.

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 759-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michael Wyss ◽  
Suzanne Oparil ◽  
Wanida Sripairojthikoon

The renal nerves contribute to hypertension in experimental models of the disease, and appear to play a role in human hypertension. Several lines of evidence indicate that both in spontaneously hypertensive rats and in deoxycorticosterone acetate–NaCl rats, the full development of hypertension is dependent on renal efferent nerves and their induction of excess sodium retention. Renal sensory (afferent nerve) feedback to the central nervous system does not contribute to either of these forms of hypertension. In contrast, renovascular hypertension in rats and aortic coarctation hypertension in dogs are mediated, at least in part, by overactivity of renal afferent nerves and a resultant increase in systemic sympathetic nervous system activity. These forms of hypertension are not associated with sodium retention, and selective sensory denervation of renal afferent nerves by dorsal rhizotomy and total renal denervation result in similar reductions in hypertension. Surprisingly, the renal nerves do not contribute to dietary NaCl exacerbated hypertension in the spontaneously hypertensive rat, dietary NaCl-induced hypertension in the Dahl NaCl-sensitive rat, or the chronic hypertensive and nephrotoxic effects of cyclosporine A therapy in the rat, despite the finding that in all three forms of hypertension, overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system is prominent. Clinical studies indicate that the renal afferent and efferent nerves contribute to hypertension of different etiologies. Together these data point to the complex role that the renal nerves likely play in human essential hypertension.Key words: kidney, cyclosporine, spontaneously hypertensive rat, renal deafferentation, renal denervation.


1983 ◽  
Vol 245 (2) ◽  
pp. E148-E154 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Young ◽  
L. Landsberg

The genetically obese (ob/ob) mouse exhibits defective thermoregulatory responses to cold exposure. Pathophysiological explanations for this phenomenon have focused on abnormalities in intracellular metabolism or insensitivity of peripheral tissues to the thermogenic effects of catecholamines. Because the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is subject to feedback regulation, a peripheral impairment in thermogenesis should be associated with a compensatory increase in SNS activity. To examine SNS activity in the ob/ob mouse, norepinephrine (NE) turnover was measured in heart and interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) of ob/ob and lean mice. The results from studies utilizing radiolabeled NE or inhibition of NE biosynthesis with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine to measure NE turnover demonstrated reductions in SNS activity of 33-56% in heart and of 45-73% in IBAT in ob/ob mice at ambient temperature (22 degrees C) compared with measurements in lean controls. During cold exposure (4 degrees C) NE turnover increased in heart and IBAT to a similar extent in both ob/ob and lean mice, but NE turnover rates in heart, and probably in IBAT as well, remained lower in the obese mice than in the lean despite the gradual development of hypothermia in the ob/ob mice during this period. Administration of naltrexone, a long-acting opiate antagonist, failed to reverse the suppression of SNS activity observed in the ob/ob mice. These data indicate that diminished SNS activity in ob/ob mice may be an additional factor contributing to the defective thermogenesis characteristic of these animals.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 1217-1224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel A. Abdel-Rahman ◽  
Robert G. Carroll ◽  
Mahmoud M. El-Mas

The present study evaluated the contribution of the sympathetic nervous system to the adverse hemodynamic action of ethanol on hypotensive responses in conscious unrestrained spontaneously hypertensive rats. Ethanol caused a dose-related attenuation of the hypotensive effect of guanabenz. An equivalent hypotensive response to sodium nitroprusside was not influenced by ethanol, which indicates a potential specific interaction between ethanol and guanabenz. Alternatively, it is possible that a preexisting high sympathetic nervous system activity, which occurred during nitroprusside infusion, may mask a sympathoexcitatory action of ethanol. Further, ethanol (1 g/kg) failed to reverse the hypotensive effect of the ganglionic blocker hexamethonium. This suggests that a centrally mediated sympathoexcitatory action of ethanol is involved, at least partly, in the reversal of hypotension. In addition, the antagonistic interaction between ethanol and guanabenz seems to take place within the central nervous system and involves opposite effects on central sympathetic tone. Finally, changes in plasma catecholamines provide supportive evidence for the involvement of the sympathetic nervous system in this interaction. In a separate group of conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats, ethanol (1 g/kg) reversed the guanabenz-evoked decreases in blood pressure and plasma catecholamine levels. It is concluded that (i) ethanol adversely interacts with centrally acting antihypertensive drugs through a mechanism that involves a directionally opposite effect on sympathetic activity, and (ii) a sympathetically mediated pressor effect of ethanol is enhanced in the presence of an inhibited central sympathetic tone.Key words: spontaneously hypertensive rats, ethanol, catecholamines, guanabenz, hexamethonium.


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