Potentiation of hypothalamic pressor responses in awake rats treated with contraceptive steroids

Contrasting with the hypertension resulting consistently after DOCA implantation, mature female rats given Enovid daily for 20 weeks had only slight and occasional increases in blood pressure. The pressure elevations remained infrequent and transient even when drinking water was replaced with isotonic saline solution but they became more pronounced when Enovid treatment was initiated at an earlier age. Despite the failure to cause sustained hypertension, the data indicate that Enovid affects blood pressure and that both mestranol and norethynodrel are essential for this effect. Pressor responses to norepinephrine or angiotensin were unaffected even after 20 weeks of pretreatment but those to electrical stimulation of the posterior hypothalamus were increased in rats pretreated with Enovid. Enhanced responsiveness to hypothalamic stimulation occurred only in the awake state and was not demonstratable after the central nervous system (CNS) had been depressed with urethane. These results can be explained by an increased sensitivity of hypothalamic pressor areas produced by Enovid prior to the development of hypertension and the mechanisms involved may be similar to those occurring in spontaneously-hypertensive rats. However, the possibility of hypersensitivity at other sites in the sympathetic vasomotor outflow cannot be ruled out.