Contribution of the sympathetic nervous system to the centrally-induced pressor action of angiotensin II in rats.

1. Angiotensin II (ANG II) may increase blood pressure by central nervous system mechanisms. The involvement of the sympathetic nervous system in the centrally-induced pressor effect of ANG II in the rat was investigated. 2. Plasma noradrenaline concentrations, measured as an index of sympathetic nervous system activity, increased after intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of pressor doses of ANG II, both in normotensive and in spontaneously hypertensive rts. 3. To assess the functional significance of this, the sympathetic nervous system was inhibited by phentolamine, reserpine, and guanethidine. In phentolamine-infused rats, low doses of i.c.v. ANG II elicited a blood pressure decrease, but at maximal pressor doses, no difference between phentolamine-treated and control rats was observed. In reserpinized rats, the central pressor effect of ANG II was greater than in controls. Guanethidine pretreatment did not affect the blood pressure response to i.c.v. injected ANG II. 4. It is concluded that the central pressor effects of ANG II are accompanied by a stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. In the rat, this stimulation may be functionally important for the initial phase of the central pressor action. This could not be established for the maximal pressor responses.