Role of the descending pressor pathway in the conscious and pentobarbital-anesthetized dog.

Resting cardiovascular parameters and the responses to bilateral carotid occlusions (BCO) were monitored in pentobarbital-anesthetized and conscious dogs before and after placing lesions in the dorsolateral funiculi at C7-C8 and after spinal transections at C7. Pre- and postlesion blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) responses to exercise were also monitored. The lesions significantly attenuated the responses to BCO and decreased resting BP in anesthetized dogs. Yet neither resting HR in anesthetized or conscious dogs nor the resting BP in conscious dogs was affected by the lesions. Subsequent spinal transections significantly decreased resting HR and BP and the responses to BCO but did not affect the BP response to BCO in anesthetized dogs as compared with corresponding postlesion parameters. BP responses to exercise were significantly attenuated by the lesions, but HR responses were not affected. Since stimulation and BP studies indicated that the descending pressor pathway had been ablated, the data suggest that the pathway mediates BP and HR responses to BCO in pentobarbital-anesthetized and conscious dogs. It does not maintain resting HR in anesthetized or conscious animals, and the resting BP in conscious dogs. This pathway is important for BP responses to exercise but is not necessary for HR responses. Finally, other spinal pathways are involved in cardiovascular control.