Tachyphylaxis develops to the hypertensive response to central (i.c.v.) injection of carbachol in conscious rats. This pressor response exhibits tachyphylaxis if the injection is repeated within 8 hr of the first injection. Blockade of brain prostaglandin synthesis with indomethacin does not inhibit the pressor response to carbachol in naive rats, but eliminates the pressor response to carbachol when the muscarinic agonist is repeated within a few hours of the first injection. If the time interval is extended to permit return of the full response (i.e., 24 hr later), indomethacin no longer inhibits the pressor response. The related cyclooygenase inhibitor meclofenamate produced effects which were identical to those of indomethacin, but at approximately 10-fold higher doses. When shorter acting drugs (duration of action < 30 min), physostigmine or arecoline, were used according to the same paradigm, indomethacin was less effective at inhibiting the pressor response to the second injection, even when the two agonist injections were spaced only 30 min apart. The ability of indomethacin to enhance central muscarinic receptor tachyphylaxis was also observed in carbachol-induced hypothermia. The density of diencephalic muscarinic receptors was estimated by using N-[3H]methylscopolamine as a probe. Carbachol-induced a down-regulation of muscarinic receptors, and indomethacin increased the extent of this down regulation. These findings suggest that prostaglandins play a role in the development of tachyphylaxis to brain muscarinic receptor stimulation: activation of prostaglandin synthesis may decelerate the development of desensitization to muscarinic agonists.
After intracisternal injection, 140 nmol (48 μg) of cocaine (but not lidocaine or procaine) evoked an increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 41 mm Hg. The increase in MAP began within 1 min after injection and lasted 10 to 15 min. The pressor response to intracisternal injection of cocaine was not mediated through central α-adrenergic receptors, but intracisternal pretreatment with D1 or D2 dopamine receptor antagonists shortened the duration of the response. Pretreatment with intracisternal injection of hemicholinium-3 to deplete medullary acetylcholine produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the pressor and tachycardic responses to intracisternal injection of cocaine. Central pretreatment with hemicholinium-3 also inhibited the pressor response to intravenous injection of 0.5 mg/kg cocaine. Atropine pretreatment was only partly effective in blocking the pressor and tachycardic responses to intracisternal injection of cocaine. However, a single intracisternal injection of the nicotinic ganglionic receptor blocker hexamethonium inhibited the pressor response to cocaine administered intracisternally 24 h later, and on each of the following 4 days. The blocking effect of hexamethonium was not mimicked by the α7 selective antagonist methyllycaconitine or by the α4β2 subtype-preferring antagonist dihydro-β-erythroidine. The data suggest that the pressor response to cocaine is mediated by medullary acetylcholine release on to nicotinic receptors of the ganglionic type, enhancing the output of bulbospinal sympathetic premotor neurons. Our results provide new evidence for the prolonged inactivation of relevant central nicotinic receptors by nicotinic receptor antagonists, and suggest that such compounds might be used safely for cocaine overdose, as well as for antiabuse issues without the concern for autonomic side effects.
