Baroreflex and beta-adrenoceptor function are diminished in rat cardiac hypertrophy due to volume overload

We investigated whether cardiac hypertrophy induced by volume loading influences baroreflex sensitivity. Aortic insufficiency (AI) was induced in male Wistar rats by graded disruption of the aortic valve, which, after 2 weeks, resulted in a 30% increase in heart/body weight or left-ventricular/body weight ratio compared with control animals. Baroreflex sensitivity was assessed in conscious animals by measuring the heart rate (HR) responses to the changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) induced by phenylephrine and nitroprusside sodium at 2 weeks. The slopes of the HR vs MAP plots obtained with phenylephrine and nitroprusside decreased significantly with increasing heart weight/body weight ratio (correlation coefficient r = 0.625 and 0.526, respectively). In isolated right atria from AI animals baseline rate was higher, and the isoproterenol effect on sinus rate was significantly smaller than in atria from control animals, indicating a dysfunction of the beta-adrenoceptor pathway. The data show that baroreflex dysfunction associated with a down-regulation of the beta-adrenoceptor pathway of the sinus node develops simultaneously with volume overload-induced hypertrophy in the absence of overt heart failure.