Angiotensinergic regulation of autonomic and neuroendocrine outputs: critical roles for the subfornical organ and paraventricular nucleus.

Considerable recent work has focused on identifying the mechanisms through which circulating angiotensin II acts in the central nervous system (CNS) to control a variety of different autonomic and neuroendocrine effectors. The following review will focus on work identifying the subfornical organ (SFO), and its efferent projections to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), as a critical component of the CNS circuitry activated by circulating angiotensin II. It will also summarize the current knowledge describing cellular mechanisms through which this peptide controls the excitability of both SFO and PVN neurons. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.