Unilateral microinjection of neuropeptide Y (NPY; 0.235-2.35 nmol) into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus was found to evoke a concentration-dependent increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) of Urethane-anesthetized rats. Concentration-dependent pressor responses were also elicited by unilateral administration of histamine (0.543-17.9 nmol) into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus. Administration of 30 nmol of the histamine H1-receptor antagonist, chlorpheniramine, but not 43.5 nmol of the histamine H2-receptor antagonist, cimetidine, into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus 10 min before 5.43 nmol histamine administration, significantly attenuated the histamine-induced pressor response. These concentrations of chlorpheniramine or cimetidine did not affect the increase in MAP, which could be evoked by the administration of 5.48 nmol of the cholinergic muscarinic agonist carbachol into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus. The carbachol-induced increase in MAP was, however, completely blocked by administration of 12 nmol of the cholinergic muscarinic antagonist atropine into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus 10 min before carbachol administration. This concentration of atropine did not affect the histamine-induced pressor response. Administration of atropine or chlorpheniramine into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus 10 min before 2.35 nmol NPY significantly attenuated the pressor response evoked by NPY. Cimetidine, on the other hand, was unable to significantly affect the increase in MAP evoked by NPY. These results demonstrate that NPY administered into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus can elicit a pressor response, and that this pressor response might involve local histaminergic and cholinergic neuronal pathways.