Blockade of contralateral carotid sinus nerve enhances ipsilateral nerve action potentials under halothane anaesthesia.

In 10 dogs, one carotid sinus was isolated from the systemic circulation without disturbing its sympathetic innervation. The isolated sinus was connected to a servo-controlled pressure generator which kept mean intrasinus pressure, pulse pressure, and frequency of pulsation constant. The carotid sinus baroreceptor nerve action potentials (NAP) were measured, together with the intransinus and systemic pressures. Following control measurements, the end-tidal concentrations of halothane in oxygen were varied between 0.0 and 2%, in random increments of 0.5%, each with 30 min of stabilization. The carotid sinus NAP response to halothane was biphasic in a dose-dependent manner. The series was repeated after neural blockade of the contralateral sinus with 1% lignocaine 2-3 ml. This blockade enhanced all NAP responses (P less than 0.001), suggesting that a central inhibitory effect, initiated by the contralateral sinus, had been removed.