Brain catecholamines during development of DOCA-salt hypertension in rats

The activity of the adrenaline-forming enzyme, phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase (PNMT) and the levels of the catecholamines dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline were determined during the development of the DOCA-salt hypertension in selective areas of the rat brain stem and hypothalamus. Increases in PNMT activity were restricted to the A1 area and locus coeruleus after 2 weeks of DOCA-salt treatment and were extended to the A2 area after 9 weeks of treatment. Adrenaline concentrations were higher in these areas only after 9 weeks of treatment. Noradrenaline levels did not change, except in the nucleus tractus commissuralis. Dopamine levels were unchanged at all times and in all structures studied. These results implicate brain stem adrenaline neurons in the central response which occurs during the DOCA-salt experimental hypertension.