Effect of stimulation of nucleus raphe dorsalis on carotid blood flow. I. The monkey.

The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and surrounding midbrain of 16 anaesthetized monkeys were stimulated electrically, and carotid blood flows were measured with electromagnetic flow probes. Stimulation of the DRN caused a frequency-dependent decrease (vasodilatation) in both internal and external carotid vascular resistance, which was abolished in both circulations by bilateral section of the facial nerve intracranially. These vasodilator responses were unaltered by intravenous administration of muscarinic cholinergic or by alpha- or beta-adrenoceptor antagonists. A postdilatation constrictor response, observed in the external carotid circulation, was blocked by the alpha-adrenoceptor antagonist phentolamine. It is concluded that projections of the DRN through the greater superficial petrosal branch of the facial nerve mediate vasodilatation in both internal and external carotid circulations.