Baroreflexive depression of oxygen consumption in the squirrel monkey at 10 degrees C

Unanesthetized squirrel monkeys exposed to an ambient temperature of 10 degrees C showed elevations in total body oxygen consumption (VO2), arterial blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR) above values recorded at 28 degrees C. Further elevation of BP in the cold by intravenous infusion of phenylephrine was accompanied by immediate reduction in VO2, inhibition of shivering, and decrease in rectal temperature, as well as immediate reduction in HR. The magnitude of reduction in VO2 correlated with the magnitude of the concomitant baroreflexive bradycardia. When the pressor effects of phenylephrine were opposed by administration of diazoxide or phentolamine, the inhibitory effects of phenylephrine on both HR and VO2 were abolished. In animals previously subjected to bilateral sinoaortic denervation, both the bradycardia and depression in oxygen consumption normally associated with BP elevation were markedly reduced. These results suggest that elevation of blood pressuere can inhibit the thermoregulatory increase in total body oxygen consumption normally produced by cold exposure, and that this inhibition, like the concomitant bradycardia, is probably mediated via the sinoaortic baroreceptors.