Spectral analysis of heart rate fluctuation was evaluated before and after administration of carteolol, a non-selective beta-adrenoceptor-blocker, to investigate the neural regulatory mechanisms underlying the haemodynamic changes induced by mental stress. Mental stress increased blood pressure and heart rate, with an increased low frequency band, and low frequency/high frequency ratio of the power spectral analysis which are indices of sympathetic activity. Carteolol did not change basal and pre-mental stress measurements of blood pressure, heart rate and spectral density. However, carteolol altered the response to mental stress with a decrease in spectral density of the low frequency band and low frequency/high frequency ratio, and an increase in the high frequency component. These results confirm that mental stress elevates blood pressure by activating the sympathetic nervous system, and suggest that blockade of the beta-adrenoceptor attenuates the pressor response by preventing the autonomic responses to mental stress.

Abstract. The effects of endothelin on the renin-aldosterone system were examined by injecting it intravenously at low (40 pmol/kg) and high (400 pmol/kg) doses into pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs. Plasma renin activity and aldosterone concentration together with hemodynamic parameters were measured before and 60 min after endothelin injection. The lower dose of endothelin induced no significant increase in mean blood pressure or total peripheral resistance. It caused a slight decrease of plasma renin activity from 10.3 ± 1.6 to 5.9 ± 1.3 μg · l−1 · h−1 (p <0.1) and a decrease of aldosterone concentration from 364 ± 68 to 231 ± 58 ng/l (p <0.05) with an increase in total peripheral resistance (p <0.05), but it did not cause any clear change in the plasma renin activity or aldosterone concentration. Thus, endothelin increases the blood pressure mainly by vasoconstriction. The finding of a slight decrease in the plasma renin activity after the lower dose of endothelin, together with our previous finding that endothelin inhibits renin release from isolated rat glomeruli, suggests that endothelin inhibits renin release in vivo. With the higher dose of endothelin, stimulation of renin release secondary to renal vasoconstriction might have counteracted the direct inhibitory action of endothelin. The decrease in aldosterone concentration may have been due to the direct inhibitory action of endothelin on aldosterone release or it may be a secondary effect induced by suppression of plasma renin activity.

SUMMARY In a search for factors contributing to the sustained Mood pressure (BP) elevation in acutely volume-loaded animals, dextran dissolved in lactated Ringer's solution (20 ml/kg) was infused into 34 mongrel dogs over a period of 1 hour under pentobarbital anesthesia and changes in bemodynamic and humoral variables were monitored during its infusion and for 3 hours after its infusion. BP elevation during volume loading (from 114 ± 3 to 128 ± 3 [SEM] mm Hg) was attributed to an increase in cardiac output. After volume loading, some dogs maintained BP elevation whereas others did not. The former group showed an increase in total peripheral resistance, demonstrating a transformation of cardiac output to total peripheral resistance as a responsible factor in maintenance of the elevated BP. The plasma levels of norepinephrine, vasopressin, and plasma renin activity were not elevated, indicating that these vasoactive factors were not responsible for elevation of the BP or total peripheral resistance. The changes in the hematocrit, atrial natriuretk factor, urine volume, and urinary sodium excretion were identical in the two groups, and natrluresis was not prominent when total peripheral resistance was high. Pressor responses to norepinephrine and angiotensm n were potentiated 3 hours after stopping Infusion in both groups, but this potentiation was not correlated with the Increase hi total peripheral resistance or mean BP. Thus, acute volume expansion produced resistance-dependent hypertension following the initial volume-dependent hypertension. It is unlikely that a vascular sensitizing natriuretk factor plays a role in the resistance-dependent BP elevation. The mechanism and physiological importance of hypersensitivity to vasoactive substances remain to be elucidated.

1. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the baroreceptor reflex system affects the secretion of atrial natriuretic factor directly or indirectly during acute volume expansion. 2. Lactated Ringer's solution containing low mol. wt. dextran was infused at 20 ml/kg for 1 h into dogs in which baroreceptors had been denervated surgically (Vx), dogs in which the autonomic system had been blocked with hexamethonium (Hx) and control dogs. 3. The plasma noradrenaline level was significantly higher in the Vx group and lower in the Hx group than in the control group throughout the experiment. The plasma levels of arginine vasopressin in the Vx and Hx groups were significantly higher than in the control group. 4. The plasma atrial natriuretic factor levels in the three groups showed similar increases during and after volume expansion. 5. The plasma atrial natriuretic factor level was significantly correlated with the right atrial pressure during volume expansion. 6. From these results, it seems unlikely that changes in the plasma level of atrial natriuretic factor during volume expansion are regulated by the baroreceptor reflex directly or indirectly by systemic changes in the sympathetic nervous system or arginine vasopressin secretion.