Activation of NADPH-diaphorase-positive projections to the rostral ventrolateral medulla following cardiac mechanoreceptor stimulation in the conscious rat

Stimulation of cardiac mechanoreceptors during volume expansion elicits reflex compensatory changes in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and nucleus of the tractus solitarius (NTS) are autonomic regions known to contribute to this reflex. Both of these nuclei project to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), critical in the tonic generation of SNA. Recent reports from our laboratory show that these pathways 1) are activated following cardiac mechanoreceptor stimulation, and 2) produce nitric oxide, known to influence SNA. The aims of the present study were to determine whether 1) the activated neurons within the PVN and NTS were nitrergic and 2) these neurons projected to the RVLM. Animals were prepared, under general anesthesia, by microinjection of a retrogradely transported tracer into the pressor region of the RVLM and the placement of a balloon at the right venoatrial junction. In conscious rats, the balloon was inflated to stimulate the cardiac mechanoreceptors or was left uninflated. Balloon inflation elicited a significant increase in Fos-positive neurons in the parvocellular PVN (sevenfold) and NTS (fivefold). In the PVN, 51% of nitrergic neurons and 61% of RVLM-projecting nitrergic neurons were activated. In the NTS, these proportions were 8 and 18%, respectively. The data suggest that nitrergic neurons within the PVN and, to a lesser extent, in the NTS, some of which project to the RVLM, may contribute to the central pathways influencing SNA elicited by cardiac mechanoreceptor stimulation.