The aortic nerve-sympathetic reflex in the rat.

The effects of stimulation of aortic nerve A- and C-fibers on the renal and cardiac sympathetic nerve activities in anesthetized and immobilized Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated. A separate aortic nerve was found in 46 rats (90%) out of 51. Activation of A- and C-fiber groups, alone or in combination, resulted in an inhibition of renal and cardiac nerve activities. However, an excitatory component preceding the inhibitory component, representing the reflex response to stimulation of non-barosensory afferent fibers contained in the carotid sinus or aortic nerve, was never observed. This result provides electrophysiological evidence supporting the view that the rat's aortic nerve does not contain a significant amount of functionally active non-barosensory afferents. As with the aortic nerve reflex in the rabbit and cat, the sympatho-inhibitory action of C-fibers was more powerful and longer-lasting than that of A-fibers. Furthermore, the C-fiber reflex was elicited at stimulus frequencies as low as 2 Hz. No significant difference was found between the reflex response of cardiac and renal nerves. On the other hand, stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve, which constitutes an important pathway carrying arterial baroreceptor fibers, caused a reflex sympathetic response typically consisting of excitatory and inhibitory components. Thus, the rat's aortic nerve provides a useful experimental means to activate selectively central neural structures associated with barosensory afferents and to elicit the reflex response homologous to that in the arterial baroreceptor reflex in rabbits and cats.