We have identified, in urethan-anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats, a polysynaptic pathway connecting the subfornical organ (SFO) with the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) with a relay neuron in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca (MS-DBB). Extracellular recordings were obtained from 136 MS-DBB neurons antidromically identified as projecting to the PVN. SFO stimulation orthodromically activated 79% of these cells (mean latency, 21.2 +/- 0.6 ms; mean duration, 6.0 +/- 0.2 ms), whereas stimulation in the fornix or hippocampal commissure had no effect. Of 35 identified MS-DBB neurons tested with systemic angiotensin II (ANG II), eight showed increases and six decreases in excitability that coincided with the ANG II-induced increase in blood pressure. To determine whether such changes were blood pressure related, 23 of the 35 identified MS-DBB neurons tested with ANG II were tested with systemic epinephrine. In every case the effect of epinephrine was similar to that of ANG II. These findings suggest that neurons in the MS-DBB receive afferent information from the SFO and the cardiovascular system. These cells in turn may activate neurons involved in the control of a variety of autonomic functions.