The sympathetic nervous system is not involved in the development of atropine tachycardia

There is a consensus that the vagus nerve produces a permanent (tonic) inhibitory effect on heart activity. However, some recent experimental findings attest that the vagus tone is not pronounced and suggest that excittion of the sympathico-adrenal system is the cause of atropine tachycardia. We found in acute and chronic experiments that the blockage of the sympathetic nervous system does not abolish atropine- and methacin-induced tachycardia. At rest heart activity is regulated by the vagus as well as by humoral agents circulating in the blood. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 118, N ^o 9, pp. 234–237, September, 1994 Presented by A. A. Ado, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences