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Area Postrema And Sympathetic Nervous System Effects Of Vasopressin And Angiotensin II
Author(s) -
Hasser Eileen M,
Cunningham J Thomas,
Sullivan Margaret J,
Curtis Kathleen S,
Blaine Edward H,
Hay Meredith
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1440-1681
pISSN - 0305-1870
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1681.2000.03261.x
Subject(s) - area postrema , vasopressin , rostral ventrolateral medulla , circumventricular organs , baroreflex , medicine , endocrinology , angiotensin ii , brainstem , sympathetic nervous system , subfornical organ , baroreceptor , central nervous system , blood pressure , medulla oblongata , heart rate
SUMMARY 1. Precise control over the cardiovascular system requires the integration of both neural and humoral signals related to blood volume and blood pressure. Humoral signals interact with neural systems, modulating their control over the efferent mechanisms that ultimately determine the level of pressure and volume. 2. Peptide hormones such as angiotensin (Ang)II and arginine vasopressin (AVP) act through circumventricular organs (CVO) to influence cardiovascular regulation. 3. The area postrema (AP), a CVO in the brainstem, mediates at least some of the central actions of these peptides. Vasopressin appears to act in the AP to cause sympathoinhibition and a shift in baroreflex control of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to lower pressures. These effects of AVP and the AP appear to be mediated by α 2 ‐adrenoceptor and glutamatergic mechanisms in the nucleus tractus solitarius. 4. In contrast to AVP AngII has effects in the AP to blunt baroreflex control of heart rate and cause sympathoexcitation. The effects of chronic AngII to increase activity of the SNS may be due to AP‐dependent activation of neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla.