Role of the sympatho-adrenal system in the reflex tachycardia produced by hydralazine in the anesthetized rat.

The role of the sympatho-adrenal system in the production of tachycardia accompanying the hypotensive response to hydralazine was studied in urethane-anesthetized rats subjected to previous bilateral adrenal demedullation or to pretreatment with 6-hydroxydopamine and compared with intact control animals. The prolonged hypotension induced by the vasodilator was not affected by these maneuvers, but the slowly developing tachycardia was reversed to bradycardia, which in the demedullated group was followed after 60 min by a moderate increase in heart rate. In the chemically sympathectomized rats, the cardiac depressant response was completely blocked by pretreatment with atropine. In additional experiments, previous administration of methylatropine enhanced hydralazine tachycardia, but atropine partially inhibited this response and changed its time course to mirror that of the hypotension. These results indicate that in urethane-anesthetized rats, hydralazine tachycardia is mediated by sympatho-adrenal activation and that it is accompanied by a simultaneous heart rate-lowering parasympathetic discharge normally masked by the predominant tachycardia. They further suggest that the tachycardia is facilitated by a muscarinic mechanism which modulates central sympathetic influences on cardiovascular function.