Sympathoinhibitory Function of the α 2A -Adrenergic Receptor Subtype

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Abstract
—Presynaptic α 2 -adrenergic receptors (α 2 -AR) are distributed throughout the central nervous system and are highly concentrated in the brain stem, where they contribute to neural baroreflex control of blood pressure (BP). To explore the role of the α 2A -AR subtype in this function, we compared BP and plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels in genetically engineered mice with deleted α 2A -AR gene to their wild-type controls. At baseline, the α 2A -AR gene knockouts (n=11) versus controls (n=10) had higher systolic BP (123±2.5 versus 115±2.5 mm Hg, P P P 2A -AR gene knockouts (n=14) and controls (n=14) became hypertensive, but the former required 15.6±2.5 days versus 29.3±1.4 days for the controls ( P P 2A -AR subtype exerts a sympathoinhibitory effect, and its loss leads to a hypertensive, hyperadrenergic state.