Effect of hypothalamic lesions on interaction of centrally administered ANF and the circulating sodium-pump inhibitor

We investigated the possible central interaction of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and an endogenous Na+, K(+)-ATPase (Na-pump) inhibitor in normal rats. Release of an endogenous Na-pump inhibitor associated with deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt hypertension may be regulated in the anteroventral third ventricle (AV3V) area of the CNS. We reported earlier that bolus injection of synthetic 26-amino acid ANF (Arg101-Tyr126, 6 micrograms/250 g rat) into the lateral brain ventricle (ICV) promotes the appearance in the plasma of a Na-pump inhibitor in rats. To determine whether the AV3V area of the brain is involved in the ICV effect of ANF, we introduced electrolytic lesions in this area. This treatment abolished the appearance of the Na-pump inhibitor after intraventricular injection of ANF. To further localize the area and the pathways involved in the interaction of ANF and the Na-pump inhibitor, we produced bilateral medial coronal knife cuts designed to transect the medially coursing pathway through the periventricular tissue of the AV3V region between the level of the medial preoptic area and the anterior hypothalamic nuclei. These knife cuts also abolished the appearance of the Na-pump inhibitor after ICV injection of ANF. Our data to date indicate that centrally administered ANF promotes the appearance of a Na-pump inhibitor in the plasma. A central site of interaction between ANF and the Na-pump inhibitor appears to be the AV3V area and a medial pathway coursing caudally from the AV3V region.