I am honored to have been chosen to present the 2008 Arthur C. Corcoran Memorial Lecture, because Dr Corcoran was both a brilliant scientist and one of the founding fathers in the field of hypertension research, but I am particularly gratified to join the list of superb scientists who have preceded me as Corcoran lecturers. When I began studying hypertension as a postdoctoral fellow, under the ...

BACKGROUND Resting sympathetic nervous system activity is increased in heart failure. Whether sympathetic nervous system responses during exercise are increased is controversial. Furthermore, the role of muscle metaboreceptors and central command in regulating sympathetic outflow has been largely unexplored. METHODS AND RESULTS Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, peroneal nerve) was meas...

To investigate the channels and neurotransmitters in the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) oblongata that are responsible for the maintenance of sympathetic tone and cardio-respiratory reflex regulation. Microinjections of excitant amino acid (glutamate, 100 nl, 100 mM), calcium channel blockers, agonists and antagonists were made throughout the VLM in anaesthetized rats. Arterial blood pressure, sym...

Many Studies suggest that changes in sympathetic nerve activity in the central nervous system might have a crucial role in blood pressure control. The present paper discusses evidence in support of the concept that the brain renin-angiotensin system (RAS) might be linked to sympathetic nerve activity in hypertension. The amount of neurotransmitter release from sympathetic nerve endings can be r...

The colorectum (late distal colon) is innervated by the sympathetic nervous system, and many colorectal diseases are related to disorders of the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic regulation of colorectal ion transport is rarely reported. The present study aims to investigate the effect of norepinephrine (NE) in the normal and catecholamine-depleted condition to clarify the regulation ...

The sympathetic nervous system is essential for maintaining mammalian homeostasis. How this intricately connected network, composed of preganglionic neurons that reside in the spinal cord and post-ganglionic neurons that comprise a chain of vertebral sympathetic ganglia, arises developmentally is incompletely understood. This problem is especially complex given the vertebral chain of sympatheti...

This interesting study [1] confirms a well-established knowledge: the over-stimulation of the sympathetic system has unfavorable consequences on early and late results in a coronary patient [2,3]. Especially, the combination of decreased parasympathetic and increased sympathetic system activity reduces further the threshold of ischemia, ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation and sudden cardiac...

alpha(2A)-Adrenergic receptors (ARs) in the midbrain regulate sympathetic nervous system activity, and both alpha(2A)-ARs and alpha(2C)-ARs regulate catecholamine release from sympathetic nerve terminals in cardiac tissue. Disruption of both alpha(2A)- and alpha(2C)-ARs in mice leads to chronically elevated sympathetic tone and decreased cardiac function by 4 mo of age. These knockout mice have...

The sympathetic skin response (SSR) is a change in skin potential following arousal stimulation, ®rst described by Tarchanoff (1890). SSR is a polysynaptic re ̄ex that is activated by a variety of afferent inputs. The ®nal efferent pathway involves preand postganglionic sympathetic sudomotor ®bers and ultimately activation of sweat glands by the sympathetic out ̄ow. The re ̄ex is coordinated in th...