Glycine microinjected in the rat dorsal vagal nucleus increases arterial pressure.

Microinjections (25 nl) of glycine into the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus in 21 rats elicited dose-dependent increases of arterial pressure and heart rate that were not seen with injections adjacent to the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. The responses to glycine were neurally mediated and could be blocked either by local pretreatment with strychnine or by combined vagotomy and ganglionic blockade. The data suggest that glycine receptors on, or in the region of, neurons of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus may have a role in the regulation of arterial pressure and heart rate.