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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges
Published on: February 25, 2016
Prenatal high salt programs enhanced sympathoadrenal activation of the cardiovascular response to restraint
James P Porter1, Summer H King
1Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA. james_porter@byu.edu
Abstract:
We recently reported that feeding Sprague Dawley rats a high-salt diet during pregnancy programmed an exaggerated pressor and tachycardic response to restraint in adult female offspring. In the present investigation, a pharmacologic approach was used to determine the contribution of the sympathoadrenal system to the exaggerated response. Injection of a cocktail containing a ganglionic blocker (chlorisondamine) and a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist (propranolol) prevented the stress-induced tachycardia and increase in blood pressure and abolished the difference between high-salt and normal-salt offspring. These data suggest that the prenatal high salt programmed a sympathoadrenal hyperresponsiveness to restraint stress.
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