The purpose of the present study was to determine the overall cardiovascular and sympathetic nervous system responses to stimulation of neuronal cell bodies in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. Bilateral microinjections (50 nl) of monosodium glutamate or sodium acetate were made into the PVN of conscious unrestrained rats. Blood pressure, heart rate and plasma concentrations of norepinephrine and epinephrine were measured. The injection of sodium acetate as an osmotic control was without effect on any of the recorded variables. In contrast, the injections of glutamate were associated with a rapid increase in both blood pressure and heart rate. At doses of 15, 25, and 50 nmol blood pressure increased by 13 +/- 2, 14 +/- 3 and 16 +/- 1 mmHg while heart rate increased by 64 +/- 15, 73 +/- 8 and 50 +/- 8 bpm. These responses were associated with increases in plasma norepinephrine concentrations of 51 +/- 8, 100 +/- 16 and 62 +/- 13 pg/ml while epinephrine concentrations rose by 42 +/- 17, 58 +/- 18 and 38 +/- 17 pg/ml. The responses of glutamate (25 nmol) were not affected by blockade of vascular vasopressin receptors with d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP (10 micrograms/kg) (blood pressure: pre 15 +/- 3 vs post 13 +/- 3 mmHg, heart rate: pre 77 +/- 9 bpm vs post 91 +/- 7 bpm, plasma norepinephrine: pre 106 +/- 22 vs post 121 +/- 28 pg/ml and plasma epinephrine: pre 61 +/- 25 vs post 34 +/- 30 pg/ml).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)