Nucleus tractus solitarius and control of blood pressure in chronic sinoaortic denervated rats

ANN M. SCHREIHOFER AND ALAN F. SVED Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 Am J Physiol. 1992 Aug;263(2 Pt 2):R258-66. This study was done in order to determine whether the NTS was still driving changes in AP following chronic sinoaortic denervation (SAD). In this study they first they gave mus or lidocaine bilaterally in the NTS of either control or chronic SAD rats. They looked at AP in response to the drugs given into the NTS. They found that AP went up in response to mus and lidocaine into the NTS in the control rats however in the chronic SAD rats there was no change in AP to the same drugs in the NTS. Next they looked at bilateral NTS lesion and whether this would lead to changes in AP. So they lesioned the NTS in control and chronic SAD rats under anesthesia and then allowed the rats to wake and recovery for 1hr and then they recorded AP. They found that the AP was elevated in the control but the chronic SAD rats maintain a similar AP as before the NTS was lesioned. These data demonstrate that the NTS is not proving any control over AP in chronic SAD rats.-MD