LACK OF PRESSOR RESPONSE TO INTRACEREBROVENTRICULAR INFUSION OF ALDOSTERONE IN SHEEP

Abstract

1. Studies in the rat and the dog have shown that infusion of aldosterone for several weeks into the cerebral ventricles (ICV) can produce hypertension at doses that do not have an effect when infused systemically. We have previously shown that a high physiological dose of aldosterone infused intravenously at 10 micrograms/h in sheep produces an increase in blood pressure of 7 mmHg within 2 days. 2. In this paper we report the effects of ICV infusion of aldosterone at 2 micrograms/h for 6 days in conscious sheep. 3. Neither blood pressure nor heart rate were altered, and there were no consistent changes in any of the metabolic parameters measured. 4. These results do not support a role for central effects of aldosterone in the hypertension produced by systemic infusion of the steroid in sheep.