Excitation of Baroreceptors Depresses A- and C-Components of the Somato-Cardiac Sympathetic Reflex in Anesthetized Rats

The effect of baroreceptor activation on somato-cardiac sympathetic reflex discharges was examined in urethane-anesthetized, vagotomized, and artificially ventilated rats. Single shock stimulation of myelinated (A) and unmyelinated (C) fibers in the tibial nerve of the left hindlimb elicited two separate excitatory reflex discharge components in a branch of the cardiac sympathetic nerve. They are termed the A- and C-components of the somato-cardiac sympathetic reflex discharges. When aortic nerves (AN) and carotid sinus nerves (CSN) were intact, a sudden increase in mean arterial blood pressure to about 150 mmHg induced by I.V. injection of phenylephrine (50 μg/kg) depressed the A- and C-components by up to 47±5.4 and 37±7.7% of the control values, respectively. However, bilateral sino-aortic denervation completely abolished the pressure-induced depression of both components. We conclude that baroreceptor afferent signals from the AN and CSN inhibit both A- and C-components of the excitatory somato-cardiac sympathetic reflex discharges. This and other previous evidence mentioned in the text indicate that inhibitory cardiac sympathetic reflexes originating from arterial baroreceptors and excitatory ones originating from somatic afferents interact, probably at the brainstem.