Concerning a definitive regulatory mechanism of the vaso-motor centre which controls blood pressure during cerebral compression
H. Cushing

In this classic 1901 paper, Cushing demonstrates that “an increase in intracranial tension occasions a rise of blood pressure which tends to find a level slightly above that exerted against the medulla.” He concludes with proud satisfaction that he has established a “simple and definite law.”...

Lowering of hypertension by central saralasin in the absence of plasma renin
M. I. Phillips, J. F. Mann, H. Hideyuki, W. E. Hoffman, R. Dietz, P. Schelling, D. Ganten

For many years, angiotensin II had been considered a blood-borne hormone that targets the blood vessels, the kidneys, and the adrenal cortex. The circulating hormone was known to be produced by a two-step hydrolysis of angiotensinogen, a plasma protein secreted by the liver...

Sympathetic augmentation in hypertension: role of nerve firing, norepinephrine reuptake, and angiotensin neuromodulation
M. P. Schlaich, E. Lambert, D. M. Kaye, Z. Krozowski, D. J. Campbell, G. Lambert, J. Hastings, A. Aggarwal, M. D. Esler

Is essential hypertension a neurological disease? This is the fundamental question that this remarkable paper addresses...

Junctional adhesion molecule-1 is upregulated in spontaneously hypertensive rats: evidence for a prohypertensive role within the brain stem
H. Waki, B. Liu, M. Miyake, K. Katahira, D. Murphy, S. Kasparov, J. F. Paton

It is perhaps a little early to characterize the Waki paper as seminal, given that the term implies a high impact on subsequent research, which only a seer could predict. However, this creative paper has undoubtedly great potential...

Unloading arterial baroreceptors causes neurogenic hypertension
T. N. Thrasher

This study strongly suggested that, contrary to the prevailing dogma, arterial baroreceptors may have a profound influence on the blood pressure set-point (24-hour mean blood pressure level)...

Sympathoexcitatory neurons of rostral ventrolateral medulla exhibit pacemaker properties in the presence of a glutamate-receptor antagonist
M. K. Sun, J. T. Hackett, P. G. Guyenet

This study is seminal, because it proposed a major alternative to prior theories of sympathetic tone generation that were based on network properties (oscillators)...

Fulminant hypertension in transgenic rats harbouring the mouse Ren-2 gene
J. J. Mullins, J. Peters, D. Ganten

This paper is famous because it was the first to suggest that an increase in the level of angiotensin produced locally in certain tissues, rather than in the blood, could cause hypertension...

Acute fulminating neurogenic hypertension produced by brainstem lesions in the rat
N. Doba, D. J. Reis

In this study, the authors demonstrated that bilateral lesions of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) produce fulminating hypertension in rats, leading to pulmonary edema, heart failure, and death...

Fall in blood pressure produced from discrete regions of the ventral surface of the medulla by glycine and lesions
P. G. Guertzenstein, A. Silver

This study left its mark in the scientific literature, because it identified with unprecedented accuracy a region of the medulla oblongata that is now regarded as a critical nodal point in the central nervous system circuitry responsible for blood pressure control...

Baroreceptor inputs to the nucleus tractus solitarius in the cat: modulation by the hypothalamus
S. W. Mifflin, K. M. Spyer, D. J. Withington-Wray

This paper is a shining example of 1980s electrophysiological wizardry. By performing truly heroic experiments, the authors elucidated a cellular mechanism that is presumably responsible for baroreflex modulation by the hypothalamus...