Hypertension is a widespread health problem and a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Nearly one- third of hypertensive patients suffer from drug-resistant hypertension; a condition associated with activation of brain angiotensin receptors, enhanced sympathetic nervous system activity and elevated levels of circulating vasopressin. The proposed experiments aim to identify neurons within the brain whose excitation or inhibition is coupled to the pathophysiology underlying resistant hypertension. Our preliminary studies using mice with Cre recombinase or green fluorescent protein directed by the genes for the angiotensin type 1a or type 2 receptors (AT1R or AT2R) have provided intriguing insight. We have discovered that neurons in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT) and median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) express AT1R or AT2R and send dense excitatory projections to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and peri-PVN area, respectively. Fascinatingly, optogenetic excitation of such AT1R neurons elicits robust (>40 mmHg) and sustained increases in blood pressure, suggestive of sympathoexcitation and augmented vasopressin secretion. Within the MnPO/OVLT the vast majority of AT2R(s) are NOT expressed on neurons that also synthesize AT1R, but rather, are a separate population of neurons whose excitation may oppose the onset of hypertension. Consistent with this interpretation, we recently discovered that pharmacological activation of AT2R facilitates GABAergic mediated inhibition of vasopressin neurons and reduces systemic vasopressin and blood pressure. We have developed the overall hypothesis that neurons within the MnPO/OVLT that express AT1R or AT2R project to the PVN and peri-PVN area to coordinate sympathetic outflow and vasopressin secretion, and that the relative activities of these neurons predict resistance or susceptibility to hypertension. To address this hypothesis, the proposed studies combine Cre-LoxP technology, in vitro/in vivo optogenetics and classical systems physiology with a mouse model of hypertension.
Aim 1 will use optogenetics to probe the connection between neurons in the MnPO/OVLT that express AT1R or AT2R and neurons in the PVN that express vasopressin. Sufficiency and/or necessity of these connections will be determined for the increased sympathetic nervous system activity and vasopressin secretion that promote neurogenic hypertension. Then, Aim 2 will use the Cre-loxP system to delete AT1R and/or AT2R within the MnPO/OVLT and determine whether AT1R/AT2R signaling within these brain nuclei contribute to the etiology of hypertension. Collectively, these experiments will determine whether excitability and/or AT1R/AT2R signaling within this neural circuit can be altered to prevent high blood pressure. These studies have the potential to uncover, at a detailed and mechanistic level, the neural circuits that are compromised during hypertension and, in the long-term, may inform a therapeutic strategy that optimally targets excitation of AT1R- and AT2R-containing neurons to relieve hypertension.
A substantial percentage of hypertensive patients are resistant to current therapies and this is a principal risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. An important contributor to resistant hypertension is altered neuronal activity within the brain?s cardiovascular control centers and the proposed studies investigate mechanisms by which activity of specific neurons may be targeted to reduce blood pressure. Completion of these studies may inform novel antihypertensive therapeutics.
