Dynamic relationship between sympathetic nerve activity and renal blood flow: a frequency domain approach

Blood pressure displays an oscillation at 0.1 Hz in humans that is well established to be due to oscillations in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). However, the mechanisms that control the strength or frequency of this oscillation are poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to define the dynamic relationship between SNA and the vasculature. The sympathetic nerves to the kidney were electrically stimulated in six pentobarbital-sodium anesthetized rabbits, and the renal blood flow response was recorded. A pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) was applied to the renal nerves, which contains equal spectral power at frequencies in the range of interest (