Interaction of bradykinin and prostaglandin E1 on cardiac pressor reflex and sympathetic afferents.

Bradykinin applied to the epicardium stimulates cardiac sympathetic afferents and evokes a reflex increase in arterial blood pressure. In anesthetized cats we examined the potentiation of these effects by prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) applied to the ventricular epicardium. We recorded cardiac afferent impulses from the second to the fifth left thoracic sympathetic rami. PGE1 (0.1 microgram/ml) alone had little effect on blood pressure, but it significantly increased the pressor response to bradykinin, and it reduced or abolished tachyphylaxis to repeated applications of bradykinin. Both mechanosensitive and chemosensitive sympathetic cardiac afferents were stimulated by bradykinin. Indomethacin (intravenous) caused a small reduction in the afferent response to bradykinin. Epicardial application of PGE1 significantly increased the response (magnitude and duration) of chemosensitive endings to bradykinin but not that of mechanosensitive endings; however, PGE1 abolished the tachyphylaxis of both chemosensitive and mechanosensitive endings to repeated applications of bradykinin. Because both bradykinin and prostaglandins are released in the ischemic myocardium, their interactive effect on cardiac sympathetic afferents could play a part in the sensory and reflex responses to myocardial ischemia.