Reversal by hypothermia of vasodilator-induced tachycardia in anesthetized rats

The normal cardiovascular response to hydralazine in urethane-anesthetized rats, i.e. hypotension and tachycardia, was changed to hypotension and bradycardia if the body temperature of the animals was not maintained constant by external heating, but was allowed to decrease spontaneously throughout the experiment. A similar phenomenon was observed with diazoxide. In rats maintained at a rectal temperature of 31 degrees C, hydralazine bradycardia was partially blocked by a low dose of atropine and was reversed to tachycardia by a high dose of this agent; mecamylamine failed to influence heart rate lowering in this condition. Heart rate responses in unheated animals to acetylcholine and isopropylarterenol were respectively potentiated and depressed when compared to responses in heated rats. These findings suggest that cold-induced reciprocal changes in reactivity of cardiac muscarinic and beta-adrenoceptors may be responsible for reversal of hydralazine or diazoxide tachycardia in urethane-anesthetized hypothermic rats. As a result, cardiac stimulation by the sympatho-adrenal discharge induced by hypotension is inhibited, while cardiac depression which is apparently also induced by hypotension, is facilitated. It is speculated that vasopressin, released as a consequence of the blood pressure fall, could be this negative chronotropic factor.