Comparative analysis of dipsogenic effects of systemic and intracerebral injection of angiotensin II to rats after carotid glomectomy

Systemic administration of angiotensin II after carotid glomectomy produced a less pronounced dipsogenic effects (consumption of water and NaCl solution) compared to sham-operated control animals. Injection of angiotensin II into the lateral cerebral ventricles of the same glomectomized rats increased water and NaCl consumption to a level surpassing that of sham-operated animals. The number of drinking acts and comfortable grooming acts decreased in glomectomized animals after systemic administration of angiotensin II, but increased after its intracerebral injection compared to the control. The results confirm the hypothesis that carotid chemoreceptors, as the peripheral component of the renin-angiotensin system, participate in the mechanisms of angiotensin-induced thirst, "salt appetite", and associated behavioral forms (comfortable grooming) synergically with the central cerebral receptors. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006.