Blood-pressure and heart-rate changes in dogs during hypothalamic self-stimulation.

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Abstract
4 Ss with rewarding hypothalamic placements were trained to self-stimulate when a light was turned on inside a soundproof room. During consecutive periods of lights off with no self-stimulation available, and of lights on with self-stimulation available, BP and HR were recorded. Hypothalamic self-stimulation(HSS) was accompanied by increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressures and average HR, mediated via the sympathetic nervous system and obliterated by adrenergic blocking agents. Under curare the BP response to manual hypothalamic stimulation was not changed but the HR response was diminished, indicating that muscular movements contribute little to BP changes during HSS.