Medial prefrontal cortical lesions modulate baroreflex sensitivity in the rat.

Previous neuroanatomical studies in rats have demonstrated that the medial prefrontal cortex sends projections to the nucleus of the solitary tract which also receives the bulk of baroreceptor information from primary afferents within the IXth and Xth cranial nerves. The present study examines the influence of the prefrontal cortex on baroreceptor heart rate reflex in conscious rats. Baroreceptor reflex activity was examined in rats with bilateral excitotoxin (N-methyl-D-aspartate)-induced lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex and in control rats (artificial cerebrospinal fluid). Seventeen to eighteen days after lesioning, reflex heart rate responses were recorded following intravenous bolus doses of the pressor agent phenylephrine and the depressor agent sodium nitroprusside. Baroreceptor reflex parameters i.e., maximum and average baroreceptor reflex gain (or sensitivity): minimum and maximum heart rate plateaus; heart rate range; upper and lower reflex thresholds, were determined by sigmoidal computerized curve-fitting. Lesioning the medial prefrontal cortex did not affect resting mean arterial pressure and heart rate. However, the lesion reduced maximum and average baroreceptor reflex gain and produced a small reduction in lower reflex threshold. The other parameters were unaffected by the lesion. These observations suggest that although the medial prefrontal cortex does not exert a tonic influence on brainstem vasomotor neurons, there may be a descending excitatory projection from this brain region to medullary neurones involved in the baroreceptor reflex arc.