Cardiovascular and thermal responses evoked from the periaqueductal grey require neuronal activity in the hypothalamus

Stimulation of neurons in the lateral/dorsolateral periaqueductal grey (l/dlPAG) produces increases in heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) that are, according to traditional views, mediated through projections to medullary autonomic centres and independent of forebrain mechanisms. Recent studies in rats suggest that neurons in the l/dlPAG are downstream effectors responsible for responses evoked from the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) from which similar cardiovascular changes and increase in core body temperature (T-co) can be elicited. We hypothesized that, instead, autonomic effects evoked from the l/dlPAG depend on neuronal activity in the DMH. Thus, we examined the effect of microinjection of the neuronal inhibitor muscimol into the DMH on increases in HR, MAP and T-co produced by microinjection of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) into the l/dlPAG in conscious rats. Microinjection of muscimol alone modestly decreased baseline HR and MAP but failed to alter T-co. Microinjection of NMDA into the l/dlPAG caused marked increases in all three variables, and these were virtually abolished by prior injection of muscimol into the DMH. Similar microinjection of glutamate receptor antagonists into the DMH also suppressed increases in HR and abolished increases in T-co evoked from the PAG. In contrast, microinjection of muscimol into the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus failed to reduce changes evoked from the PAG and actually enhanced the increase in T-co. Thus, our data suggest that increases in HR, MAP and T-co evoked from the l/dlPAG require neuronal activity in the DMH, challenging traditional views of the place of the PAG in central autonomic neural circuitry.