Cerebral metabolic and hormonal activations during hemorrhage in sinoaortic-denervated rats

Denervation of sinoaortic baroreceptors in normovolemic rats selectively increases glucose utilization in the median eminence and pituitary neural lobe and enhances secretion of vasopressin and oxytocin. Hemorrhage in denervated animals increases further glucose metabolism in these structures and stimulates the release of both neurohypophysial hormones with preferentially a greater effect on vasopressin. Similar increases in glucose metabolism in these structures with a greater release of vasopressin are observed in sham-operated animals during hemorrhage. Absence of high-pressure receptors, therefore, does not modify the preferential release of vasopressin during hypovolemia. Hemorrhage also increases glucose utilization in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei, area postrema, and subfornical organ in sham-operated and denervated rats but only after a 20% blood reduction. The results indicate that decreased inputs from low-pressure receptors during hemorrhage increase the activity of the hypothalamoneurohypophysial system after small reductions in blood volume and that the activity of this system is tonically inhibited by baroreceptors. The activities of structures responsive to circulating angiotensin II (subfornical organ and area postrema) are stimulated by larger reductions in blood volume and their metabolic activities are not tonically influenced by high-pressure receptors.