High blood pressure disease is one of the most prevalent pathological conditions in modem
society with potentially serious consequences. During the last two decades major progress has
been made in the development of rational approaches to the treatment of high blood pressure. A
key factor in this progress has been an increase in our understanding of how the brain controls
blood pressure. The chapters in the present book together with those in a previous volume
provide a broad overview of recent progress in our knowledge of the central neural mechanisms
involved in the regulation of the cardiovascular system. It is our hope that these essays by
leading experts in the field will not only provide a useful source of information but will
also stimulate inquiry leading to new discoveries in this critically important field of
research. George Kunos John Ciriello vii List of Contributors Jeffrey J. Anderson Department
of Pharmacology and Toxicology Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis Indiana
46208 USA Katsuyuki Ando Fourth Department of Internal Medicine University of Tokyo School
of Medicine Tokyo 112 Japan Jaideep S. Bains Department of Physiology Queen's University
Kingston Ontario Canada K7L 3N6 Kathleen H. Berecek Department of Physiology and Biophysics
and the Vascular Biology and Hypertension Program The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham Alabama 35294 USA Vernon S. Bishop Department of Physiology The University of
Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Texas 78284-7756 USA P. A.
