Exaggerated renal sympathetic nerve and pressor responses during spontaneously occurring motor activity in hypertensive rats

Stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region elicits exaggerated sympathetic nerve and pressor responses in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). This suggests that central command or its influence on vasomotor centers is augmented in hypertension. The decerebrate animal model possesses an ability to evoke intermittent bouts of spontaneously occurring motor activity (SpMA) and generates cardiovascular responses associated with the SpMA. It remains unknown whether the changes in sympathetic nerve activity and hemodynamics during SpMA are altered by hypertension. To test the hypothesis that the responses in renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) during SpMA are exaggerated with hypertension, this study aimed to compare the responses in decerebrate, paralyzed SHR, WKY, and normotensive Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. In all strains, an abrupt increase in RSNA occurred in synchronization with tibial motor discharge (an index of motor activity) and was followed by rises in MAP and heart rate. The centrally evoked increase in RSNA and MAP during SpMA was much greater (306 ± 110%) in SHR than WKY (187 ± 146%) and SD (165 ± 44%). Although resting baroreflex-mediated changes in RSNA were not different across strains, mechanically or pharmacologically induced elevations in MAP attenuated or abolished the RSNA increase during SpMA in WKY and SD but had no effect in SHR. It is likely that the exaggerated sympathetic nerve and pressor responses during SpMA in SHR are induced along a central command pathway independent of the arterial baroreflex and/or result from central command-induced inhibition of the baroreflex.