Parasympathetic inhibition of sympathetic neural activity to the pancreas

Abstract

The present study tested the hypothesis that activation of the parasympathetic nervous system could attenuate sympathetic activation to the pancreas. To test this hypothesis, we measured pancreatic norepinephrine (NE) spillover (PNESO) in anesthetized dogs during bilateral thoracic sympathetic nerve stimulation (SNS; 8 Hz, 1 ms, 10 mA, 10 min) with and without (randomized design) simultaneous bilateral cervical vagal nerve stimulation (VNS; 8 Hz, 1 ms, 10 mA, 10 min). During SNS alone, PNESO increased from the baseline of 431 ± 88 pg/min to an average of 5,137 ± 1,075 pg/min ( P < 0.05) over the stimulation period. Simultaneous SNS and VNS resulted in a significantly ( P < 0.01) decreased PNESO response [from 411 ± 61 to an average of 2,760 ± 1,005 pg/min ( P < 0.05) over the stimulation period], compared with SNS alone. Arterial NE levels increased during SNS alone from 130 ± 11 to ∼600 pg/ml ( P < 0.05); simultaneous SNS and VNS produced a significantly ( P < 0.05) smaller response (142 ± 17 to 330 pg/ml). Muscarinic blockade could not prevent the effect of VNS from reducing the increase in PNESO or arterial NE in response to SNS. It is concluded that parasympathetic neural activity opposes sympathetic neural activity not only at the level of the islet but also at the level of the nerves. This neural inhibition is not mediated via muscarinic mechanisms.