Brain histamine regulates pressor responses to peripheral hyperosmolality.

The role of brain histamine (HA) in the pressor response to peripheral hyperosmolality was investigated in the conscious Sprague-Dawley rat. Increased mean arterial pressure was observed during a 30-min intravenous infusion of hypertonic saline (HTS; 10 microliters.100 g body wt-1 x min-1) in vehicle-treated controls (20.1 +/- 3.8 mmHg) and in animals centrally pretreated with the specific H2-antagonist, cimetidine (15.0 +/- 3.7 mmHg). However, this pressor response was abolished in a dose-dependent manner after intracerebroventricular injection of the H1 antagonist promethazine. In other experiments, brain tissue microdissected from the supraoptic nucleus (SON), paraventricular nucleus (PVN), and posterior hypothalamic region showed significantly lower levels of total tissue HA after 60 min of intravenous HTS infusion compared with tissue taken from control animals receiving an isotonic infusion. Microdialysis in the region of the PVN or SON before and during HTS infusion showed increased extracellular concentrations of HA in the SON (24.4 +/- 10.9%) during infusion. No change in extracellular HA concentration was seen in the PVN during HTS infusion. These results support the conclusion that endogenous brain HA is involved in the pressor response to peripheral hyperosmolality.