A method for determining baroreflex-mediated sympathetic and parasympathetic control of the heart in pregnant and non-pregnant sheep

1. The cardiac baroreflex was measured in four non-pregnant and six pregnant ewes before and during beta-adrenoreceptor blockade with propranolol and before and during vagal blockade with atropine. Arterial pressure was raised by phenylephrine and lowered by sodium nitroprusside. The relationships between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR), between MAP and heart rate variability (HRV) measured as the coefficient of variation (c.v.) of the mean pulse interval (PI), and between MAP and HRV measured by power spectral analysis were determined. 2. The MAP-MR relationship showed that in pregnant ewes the gain of the cardiac baroreflex was reduced when compared with non-pregnant ewes. Threshold and saturation pressures mere higher, maximum achievable HR was lower and there was a decrease in the operating range. 3. V-shaped relationships were obtained between MAP and HRV (measured as the c.v of PI) and between MAP and power spectral density in the frequency range 0.04-0.08 Hz. Using selective autonomic blockade the negative, or downward, slope of the V shape was shown to be a measure of baroreceptor-induced, sympathetically mediated effects on HRV. The upward, or positive, slope of the V shape was a measure of baroreceptor-induced, vagally mediated effects. Similar results were also obtained from the cardiac power spectrum, but it was less sensitive. The MAP at which the two slopes intersected was the same as the resting MAP. 4. In pregnant ewes, the slope of the downward limb of the V-shaped relationship between HRV (when measured as the c.v. of PI) and MAP was less than in non-pregnant ewes. 5. The relationship between MAP and the coefficient of variation of the mean pulse interval can therefore be used to measure the degree to which baroreceptor-induced sympathetic and parasympathetic activity affects the heart. 6. The resting MAP is the pressure at which the net effect of these sympathetic and parasympathetic influences on the heart is at a minimum. Studies of both the MAP-MR and MAP-HRV relationships in pregnant and non-pregnant sheep show that in pregnant sheep, there is attenuation of baroreceptor-mediated sympathetic effects on the heart.