Arterial hypertension elicited either by lesions or by electrical stimulations of the rostral hypothalamus in the rat

Abstract

Bilateral anodal lesions performed with stainless steel electrodes placed either in the anterior medial (AMH) or lateral (ALH) hypothalamus, or in the ventromedial nucleus (VMH), induced in unrestrained rats the rapid development of arterial hypertension, tachycardia and death. Similarly placed cathodal lesions performed with platinum electrodes failed to elicit the cardiovascular syndrome. The electrical stimulation of the AMH, ALH or VMH caused an increase in the arterial blood pressure in anesthetized rats. This pressor response was characteristically biphasic and consisted of a sharp increase in arterial pressure at the onset of the stimulation, followed by a second elevation at the end of the stimulation. The hypertension evoked either by lesions or by stimulations of the hypothalamus, appeared to depend largely on a neurally mediated release of adrenal medullary catecholamines, and to some extent on the activation of the sympathetic vasoconstrictor fibers. Bilateral adrenalectomy, or adrenal demedullation, prevented the hypertension evoked by lesions, and selectively blocked the important secondary phase of the pressor response elicited by stimulation, but did not affect the primary phase. The latter was specifically eliminated by the destruction of the sympathetic vasomotor axons with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). On the other hand, the tachycardia evoked by lesions or stimulations of the medial hypothalamus, resulted from an increase in sympathetic neural discharges to the heart, and it was abolished either by β-receptor blockade with sotalol or by chemical sympathectomy with 6-OHDA. In contrast, the tachycardia occurring after lesions of the lateral hypothalamus was entirely due to circulating adrenal medullary catecholamines and it was eliminated by adrenalectomy. It is concluded that acute hypertension and tachycardia produced by anodal lesions performed with stainless steel electrodes results from the excitation of the hypothalamus, possibly due to the irritative action of the metallic ions deposited at the lesion sites. The observations of cardiovascular responses entirely due to adrenomedullary secretions suggests that the control of the adrenal medulla is at least partially distinct from that of the sympathetic vasoconstrictor and cardiac fibers, at the rostral hypothalamic level.