Autonomic regulation of heart rate and blood pressure in hemorrhaged toads

Mean arterial blood pressure (P(a)) and heart rate (HR) were studied in normal conscious cane toads (Bufo marinus) or in autonomically blocked animals treated variously with bretylium, atropine, phentolamine, and propranolol. Partial or total autonomic blockade had no effect on resting values of the variables tested, with the exception that atropine treatment of bretylium-treated toads caused an increase of heart rate by 5.3 +/- 1.3 beats/min. In graded hemorrhage, aliquots of blood (1.68 ml/100 g body wt) were removed at 60-min intervals. There was extensive plasma recruitment, and blood could be removed up to 10.08 ml/100 g without inducing cardiovascular shock. Each hemorrhage caused an initial transient decrease in P(a) and increase in HR followed by recovery toward prehemorrhage values. Repeated hemorrhage caused a progressive rise in basal HR and fall in basal P(a). The effects of drug treatments suggest that transient increases in HR may be caused by the release of adrenal catecholamines. In addition, hemorrhage may increase sympathetic tone so that basal HR becomes elevated, which, together with sympathetic vasoconstriction, limits the progressive fall of basal P(a).