Sympathetic control of cerebral arteries: specialization in receptor type, reserve, affinity, and distribution

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Abstract
The sympathetic neuroeffector system in the mammalian cerebral circulation has a number of distinctive features that reflect its specialized role in this vascular bed: 1) there is limited alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated contraction in large vessels that becomes progressively less important with branching; 2) contraction is limited by receptor number; small branches often seem to have no functional alpha adrenoceptors; 3) adrenoceptor affinity for norepinephrine is low and so is sensitivity; and 4) the dominant alpha-adrenoceptor subtype differs in different species and may have unique characteristics in some. There is a mechanism of non-alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated contraction involving low-affinity receptor sites--extraceptors--activated by sympathetic nerves. The pig has a seemingly atypical sympathetic mechanism. On the basis of current information the sympathetic neuroeffector mechanisms of the rabbit seem most clearly related to the human. The size, pattern, and distribution of sympathetic control suggest...