Application of numerical noise titration during autonomic blockade

The influence of pharmacological autonomic nervous system interventions on nonlinear cardiovascular regulatory indices is nowadays still not clear. The present study assesses the effects of autonomic blockade (alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor and cholinergic) on cardiovascular function by heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV) in rats using the nonlinear numerical noise titration technique. The results show that the alpha-adrenoceptor pathways seem to have an important contribution in the generation and control of nonlinear HR and especially BP fluctuations, while beta-adrenoceptor and cholinergic interventions have a negligible contribution to the nonlinear dynamical control.