EFFECTS OF CENTRAL SEROTONIN NERVE LESIONS ON BLOOD PRESSURE IN NORMOTENSIVE AND HYPERTENSIVE RATS |
| |
| Authors: | P. R. C. Howe B. H. Stead W. Lovenberg J. P. Chalmers |
| |
| Affiliation: | Department of Medicine, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, South Australia;National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. |
| |
| Abstract: | 1 Separate ascending and descending pathways of serotonin (5-hy-droxytryptamine, 5-HT) nerves in the rat central nervous system have been selectively lesioned by Idealized intracerebral administration of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) after pretreatment with desipramine (DMI). 2 Bilateral injections of 5,7-DHT into the medial forebrain bundle or the cervical spinal cord caused extensive losses of 5-HT and tryptophan hydroxylase in the anterior hypothalamus and thoracic spinal cord, respectively, without affecting noradrenaline (NA) levels. 3 The hypothalamic lesions caused only a slight, transient reduction of systolic blood pressure in normotensive rats. 4 A more pronounced and sustained hypotension occurred in normotensive rats but not in hypertensive rats after the spinal lesions. |
| |
| Keywords: | Key words: serotonin 5 7-dihydroxytryptamine blood pressure spontaneously hypertensive rats. |
|
|
