Ventral pontine catecholaminergic pathway mediates the vasopressin response to splanchnic osmostimulation in conscious rats.

This study examines the role of catecholamines, cell bodies and fibers of passage within the subcoeruleus area (subLC) in the arginine vasopressin (AVP) response to splanchnic osmotic stimulation and hemorrhage. Bilateral chemical lesions were induced into the subLC, approximately 1 mm ventral to the locus coeruleus (LC), using 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and ibotenic acid to selectively destroy catecholaminergic components and cell bodies, respectively. Vehicle and 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) injections into the subLC area, 6-OHDA injections into the LC, as well as systemic desipramine pretreatment, were performed as controls for the possible non-specific effects of the lesions. Seven and 8 days later, plasma AVP level, plasma osmolality, mean arterial pressure and heart rate were measured following either gastric infusion of hypertonic (598 mOsm/kg; 2 ml/4 min) or isotonic (290 mOsm/kg) saline or a mild hemorrhage (2.5 ml/300 g) in conscious rats with indwelling tail artery catheters and naso-gastric tubes. 6-OHDA injections into subLC reduced the AVP response to the osmotic stimulation by 62.3% (P less than 0.01), as compared to vehicle-injected controls. These same rats demonstrated a normal AVP response to hemorrhage implying a specificity of the disrupted pathway. All controls confirmed that the effects of the 6-OHDA were due to specific action on noradrenergic components within the subLC area. Ibotenic acid lesions in the subLC did not significantly decrease the AVP response, demonstrating that mainly fibers and not cell bodies in this region are part of the pathway. 6-OHDA injections just anterior to the LC, where the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DNAB) forms, reduced the AVP secretion due to hemorrhage by 77.0% (P less than 0.05), but had minor effects on the response to osmotic stimulation. These results indicate that catecholaminergic fibers travelling primarily within the subLC, in the ventral noradrenergic bundle (VNAB), carry splanchnic osmotic input to the hypothalamus, whereas the DNAB may mediate the AVP response to hemorrhage.