Neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the baroreceptor reflex arc: connections between the nucleus of the solitary tract and the ventrolateral medulla oblongata in the rat.

The primary baroreceptor area (nucleus of the solitary tract-NTS) is anatomically interconnected with the rostral ("vasomotor area") and the caudal ("vasodepressor area") ventrolateral medulla by a well-defined arc of neuronal pathways. The chemical character and the direction of these pathways have been investigated with immunohistochemical and neurochemical techniques in intact and brainstem-operated rats. The transection of the neuronal arc resulted in an accumulation of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in a small group of cells in the NTS adjacent to the area postrema, ipsilateral to the knife cut. Decreased angiotensinogen mRNA and atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations were measured in the ventrolateral medulla after the cut, and an accumulation of angiotensin II-immunoreactivity was found in neuronal perikarya in the ipsilateral NTS. Intracranial vagotomy caused marked depletions in glutamate levels in the subcommissural portion of the NTS and in the caudal ventrolateral medulla but nowhere else in the brainstem investigated including the rostral ventrolateral medulla.