Locus coeruleus may have a function in central blood pressure regulation and possibly in the pathogenesis of hypertension. In keeping with this notion, we have recently shown that deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats demonstrate a greater increase in blood pressure induced by locus coeruleus stimulation than control animals. In an attempt to elucidate the underlying mechanisms leading to this alteration in responsiveness of the locus coeruleus, the sensitivity of noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus to the transmitter candidates, epinephrine and glutamate, was investigated in DOCA-prehypertensive (3 days post-DOCA), DOCA chronic hypertensive (6-8 weeks post-DOCA) and control rats using conventional microiontophoretic and single cell recording techniques. Iontophoretically applied epinephrine produced a current-dependent decrease in spontaneous firing rate of all noradrenergic neurons in both DOCA-treated and control rats. Locus coeruleus neurons of DOCA-treated rats at 3 days and 6-8 weeks were less sensitive to epinephrine than those of control rats and the magnitude of the depression in spontaneous firing rate was less. By contrast, iontophoretic applications of glutamate produced an increase in activity of all noradrenergic locus coeruleus neurons. However, there was minimal difference in glutamate sensitivity between neurons of DOCA and control rats. Since the changes in epinephrine sensitivity are apparent not only in the chronic stage but also in the prehypertensive stage, our findings suggest a potential role of the adrenergic input to the locus coeruleus in the pathogenesis of DOCA-hypertension.