The purpose of this study was to identify the alpha-adrenergic receptor subtype mediating cerebral vasoconstriction during sympathetic nerve stimulation in the newborn piglet. The effect of alpha 1- and alpha 2- antagonists prazosin and yohimbine on the cerebrovascular response to unilateral electrical stimulation (15 Hz, 15 V) of the superior cervical sympathetic trunk was studied in 25 newborn piglets. Regional cerebral blood flow was measured with tracer microspheres (15 +/- 1 micron). Sympathetic stimulation decreased blood flow to the ipsilateral cerebrum hippocampus, choroid plexus, and masseter muscle by 15 +/- 2, 10 +/- 2, 51 +/- 5, and 94 +/- 5%, respectively. alpha 1-Adrenergic receptor blockade with prazosin (0.5 mg/kg, n = 10) inhibited the sympathetic vasoconstriction in the cerebrum, hippocampus, and masseter muscle (7 +/- 2, 4 +/- 3, and 55 +/- 9%, respectively) and abolished it in the choroid plexus. alpha 2-Adrenergic receptor blockade with yohimbine (0.5 mg/kg, n = 6 and 1.0 mg/kg, n = 5) had no effect. Following the higher dose of yohimbine, however, blood flow to all brain regions was increased by approximately two-fold, possibly due to enhanced cerebral metabolism. These data demonstrate that vascular alpha 1-adrenergic receptors mediate vasoconstriction to neuroadrenergic stimulation in cerebral resistance vessels in the newborn piglet.