Premium
PLASMA AND PITUITARY PROLACTIN AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN BROMOCRIPTINE‐TREATED SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE AND WISTAR‐KYOTO RATS
Author(s) -
Tan B. K. H.,
Hutchinson J. S.
Publication year - 1987
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 - 10.1111/j.1440-1681.1987.tb01871.x
Subject(s) - bromocriptine , endocrinology , medicine , prolactin , dopaminergic , blood pressure , pituitary gland , chemistry , dopamine , hormone
SUMMARY 1. The effects on blood pressure (BP) and plasma and pituitary prolactin (PRL) of a 13 day intraperitoneal infusion of bromocriptine delivered by osmotic minipump were investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive controls, the Wistar‐Kyoto rats (WKY). 2. In the SHR, a fall in BP which was steepest over the initial few days and sustained up to day 12 was observed in the bromocriptine‐treated group compared with the lack of a change in BP observed in the vehicle‐treated group. The plasma PRL level taken on day 13 was found to be significantly lower in the bromocriptine‐treated group than in the vehicle‐treated group. 3. In the WKY, bromocriptine had no significant effect on either BP or plasma PRL. 4. Pituitary PRL content was significantly lower in the SHR than in the WKY. The suppression by bromocriptine treatment was greater in the SHR than in the WKY. 5. These results provide further evidence for a central dopaminergic insufficiency in the SHR and raise the possibility that PRL may, either directly or indirectly by interacting with other factors in the SHR, influence BP.