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Abstract
Acute restraint is an unavoidable stress situation that evokes marked and sustained
cardiovascular changes, which are characterized by blood pressure and heart rate increases.
In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that insular cortex mediates cardiovascular
responses to acute restraint stress in rats. To that purpose, the insular cortex synaptic
transmission was inhibited by bilateral microinjection of the nonselective synaptic
blocker cobalt chloride (CoCl2, 1 mM/100 nL). Insular cortex pretreatment with CoCl2
decreased restraint-evoked pressor and tachycardiac responses, thus indicating an
involvement of synapses within the insular cortex on the modulation of cardiovascular
responses to restraint stress. The present results indicate that insular cortex synapses
exert a facilitatory influence on blood pressure and HR increase evoked by acute restraint
stress in rats.
2010. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.