Cardiovascular response to electrical stimulation of and microinjection of ouabain into posterior and ventromedial hypothalamus of cat.

Electrical stimulation (ES) of and injection of ouabain into ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) of cats elicited only minor changes in heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). On the other hand similar treatments to posterior hypothalamus (PH) consistently produced a significant increase in HR and BP; two out of five animals developed cardiac arrhythmias. The study suggests that PH is a potential site of action of ouabain for induction of arrhythmias.