To characterize the blood pressure and heart rate effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in the brain, we administered 20 micrograms/kg of atriopeptin III in 5 microliters of 0.9 normal saline into the fourth ventricle of awake, freely moving, spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. ANP produced a 13 +/- 1 mmHg decrease in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in the SHR (P less than 0.001 vs. base line or saline control, n = 10) and a 9 +/- 2 mmHg decrease in the WKY (P less than 0.02). Heart rate did not change significantly in response to ANP. To determine whether an interaction with the adrenergic nervous system played a role in the effects of ANP, we administered 100 ng yohimbine HCL, an alpha 2-antagonist, by intracerebroventricular injection, 45 min before ANP and completely prevented the ANP-induced decrease in MAP. In contrast, 100 ng intracerebroventricular prazosin, an alpha 1-adrenergic antagonist, had no significant influence on the MAP effect induced by ANP. A third group of SHR was pretreated with intracerebroventricular 6-OH dopamine to deplete central catecholamines or with saline. The rats pretreated with 6-OH dopamine (n = 6) had no significant response to ANP, which was administered 9 days later. This was significantly different from the saline-pretreated control group (n = 6), which responded with a 19 +/- 3 mmHg decrease in MAP (P less than 0.025). These studies indicate that the administration of ANP into the fourth ventricle of the brain decreases the MAP of rats through an interaction with the central alpha 2-adrenergic nervous system.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)