Tachycardia and hypotension, two cardiovascular responses to anaphylaxis, were specifically induced by antigen in mice and rats, respectively. Intravenous injection of poly (Glu60Ala30Tyr10) (GAT) elicited tachycardia within 30-40 sec in GAT-primed B6 mice. Moreover, a minute amount of GAT (0.2 micrograms) was enough to sensitize the mice to subsequent GAT-induced tachycardia. Challenging doses ranging from 100 ng to 500 micrograms. could elicit tachycardia. The kinetics of tachycardia induction was different from that of antibody production or delayed-type hypersensitivity. Tachycardia was induced from day 6 after immunization, while delayed-type hypersensitivity developed as early as day 4, and anti-GAT antibodies were undetectable on day 6 and would not reach a maximum until day 8. Specific antigen-induced hypotension was also observed in rats. Furthermore, cardiovascular changes in both species could be passively transferred by heat-treated (56 degrees C, 30 min) sera from immunized animals. These benchmarks of antigen-induced cardiovascular changes in mice or rats could be used as models to study the immune control of cardiovascular changes in anaphylactic responses.