The sympathetic system (SNS) is considered to be a major component of the neurogenic contribution to inflammation and hyperalgesia. We have investigated the role of the SNS in the local inflammatory pain induced by intraplantar (i.pl) injections of bacterial endotoxin (ET). Treatment of rats with an alpha-adrenoceptor antagonist (phentolamine, 0.25-1 mg/kg, i.p.), a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist...

Although central administration of arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been reported to increase arterial pressure mediated by activation of the sympathetic system, we found that peripheral blockade of sympathetic transmission did not attenuate this pressor response. To elucidate the mechanism, rats were pretreated with either phentolamine (3 mg/kg), chlorisondamine (2.5 mg/kg), a vasopressin V1 rec...

A study was set up to assess the effect on the clinical course of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) of giving propranolol 80 mg eight-hourly plus phentolamine 20 mg three-hourly by mouth for three weeks. Out of the 90 patients studied, 14 died. Two of the deaths occurred in an open pilot study of 10 patients, the remaining 12 deaths occurring in patients in a randomised double-blind placebo-contro...

Monitoring the spatio-temporal characteristics of microcirculation is crucial for studying the functional activities of biotissue and the mechanism of disease. However, conventional methods used to measure blood flow suffer from limited spatial resolution or the injection of exogenous substances or the need of scanning to obtain the dynamic of regional blood flow. Laser speckle imaging (LSI) te...

Neuropeptide W (NPW), an endogenous ligand for G protein-coupled receptors NPBWR1 (GPR7) and NPBWR2 (GPR8), has been detected in neurons in limbic and reticular activating system areas known to be important in arousal, as well as hypothalamic nuclei known to be important in food and water intake and the neuroendocrine response to stress. In rat, central administration of NPW increased mean arte...

Using a new in vitro procedure of the isolated perfused rat pancreas with vagal innervation, electrical vagal stimulation produced an increase in both insulin and glucagon secretion in proportion to the pulse frequency, but an inhibition in somatostatin release. When atropine was infused, both insulin and glucagon responses to vagal stimulation were partially suppressed, whereas somatostatin re...