The vasovagal response of the rat: Its relation to the vestibulosympathetic reflex and to Mayer waves

Vasovagal responses (VVRs) are characterized by transient drops in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) and increased amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in the Mayer wave frequency range. Typical VVRs were induced in anesthetized, male, Long-Evans rats by sinusoidal galvanic vestibular stimulation (sGVS). VVRs were also produced by single sinusoids that transiently increased BP and HR, by 70-90° nose-up tilts, and by 60° tilts of the gravitoinertial acceleration vector using translation while rotating (TWR). The average power of the BP signal in the Mayer wave range increased substantially when tilts were >70° (0.91 g), i.e., when linear accelerations in the x-z plane were ≥0.9 -1.0 g. The standard deviations of the wavelet-filtered BP signals during tilt and TWR overlaid when they were normalized to 1 g. Thus, the amplitudes of the Mayer waves coded the magnitude of the linear acceleration ≥1 g acting on the head and body, and the average power in this frequency range was associated with the generation of VVRs. These data show that VVRs are a natural outcome of stimulation of the vestibulosympathetic reflex and are not a disease. The results also demonstrate the usefulness of the rat as a small animal model for studying human VVRs.