Peripheral 5-HT receptor-mediated responses were examined in pithed spontaneously hypertensive rats and normotensive wistar rats. Responses examined were: Pressor and depressor responses, tachycardia and inhibition of stimulation-evoked tachycardia. In pithed spontaneously hypertensive rats, 5-HT, but not the 5-HT1-selective agonist 5-carboxamidotryptamine, produced pressor responses, and these were potently antagonised by the 5-HT2-selective antagonists ketanserin and LY 53857. In pithed spontaneously hypertensive rats, the tachycardia to 5-HT was abolished by a combination of the 5-HT2 receptor antagonist LY 53857 and propranolol, suggesting that the tachycardia is mediated by 5-HT2 receptors and by release of noradrenaline. In pithed spontaneously hypertensive rats, 5-carboxamidotryptamine, 5-HT, and to a lesser extent the 5-HT1 receptor agonist RU 24969, but not the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT, produced depressor responses which were antagonised by methysergide and metitepin, but which do not clearly fit with any of the 5-HT1 ligand binding sites. In pithed normotensive wistar rat, 5-carboxamidotryptamine was approximately 100 times more potent than 5-HT and 8-OH-DPAT at inhibiting the cardio-acceleration produced by single pulse electrical stimulation and this inhibition was antagonised by metitepin, so that the response is mediated by 5-HT1 receptors.