The medial preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus modulates activity of nitric oxide sensitive neurons in the midbrain periaqueductal gray.

Stimulation of the medial preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus (MPO) has been shown to produce decreases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) by a pathway involving the periaqueductal gray region of the midbrain (PAG). Previous studies have shown that the injection of nitric oxide (NO) donating compounds into the dorsal PAG also decreases MAP, while the injection of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors increases MAP. Collectively these studies suggest that the MPO elicited hypotensive response may involve NO production in PAG neurons. In this study, we investigated this hypothesis. We found that: (1) Bilateral injection of the NOS inhibitor 7-nitro indazole (7-NI) into the dorsolateral PAG cell columns produced elevations in MAP in a highly consistent and site specific fashion. (2) Microinjection of 7-NI in quantities that were too low to directly influence MAP blocked the MPO evoked hypotensive response in 9/11 cases. (3) While 41% of dorsal PAG neurons had baseline firing rates that were sensitive to 7-NI, 69% of PAG neuronal responses to MPO stimulation were blocked by 7-NI. (4) Inhibitory responses that were not blocked by 7-NI had significantly shorter latencies to onset in the presence of 7-NI. (5) PAG neurons that projected to the medulla exhibited similar electrophysiologic response patterns. Our results suggest the following: (1) The dorsolateral PAG contains a NO producing hypotensive network. (2) The MPO elicited hypotensive response may utilize this network. (3) Stimulation of the MPO elicits NO dependent responses from PAG neurons, some of which do project to medullary-cardiovascular control centers.