Effect of spontaneous exercise on reflex slowing of the heart in decerebrate cats

Exercise has been shown to reduce the ability of the baroreflex to slow the heart, and signals arising from cerebral cortex may cause this reduction. To test whether signals arising from the cerebral cortex are required to cause this inhibition, reflex slowing of the heart was assessed in decerebrate cats during rest and spontaneous walking. This reflex was quantified by the relation between systolic blood pressure and the subsequent heart beat interval or its inverse, beat to beat heart rate, during transient rises in pressure caused by injections of phenylephrine. Reflex slowing of the heart was reduced during spontaneous exercise compared to rest. Exercise may inhibit reflex cardiac slowing by activating beta-adrenoceptors that inhibit vagal effects on the heart. To test whether activation of beta-adrenoceptors caused the inhibition of reflex cardiac slowing produced by spontaneous walking in these decerebrate cats, the ability of the baroreflex to slow the heart during blockade of beta-receptors by propranolol was tested in 3 cats. Propranolol did not abolish the inhibitory effect of spontaneous walking on this reflex. These data indicate that the cerebral cortex and beta-adrenoceptors are not required for exercise to inhibit reflex cardiac slowing.