Neural and cardiovascular responses to emotional stress in humans

Carter, Jason R.; Durocher, John J.; Kern, Rosalie P.

doi:10.1152/ajpregu.90646.2008

Cited by 47 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…First, MSNA responsiveness to mental stress can be widely variable in humans (7). Second, although early evidence suggested that self-perceptions of stress might explain the large interindividual variability associated with MSNA reactivity to mental stress (4), more recent studies have challenged this paradigm (6,9). Third, and perhaps most importantly, our laboratory has documented a dissociation between MSNA and blood pressure (BP) reactivity to mental stress in young, healthy adults (9).…”

Section: Subjects With a Family History Of Hypertension (Fhh) Demonstmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympathetic neural reactivity to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: 20 years revisited

Fonkoue

Wang

Carter

2016

American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology

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Fonkoue IT, Wang M, Carter JR. Sympathetic neural reactivity to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: 20 years revisited. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 311: H426 -H432, 2016. First published July 1, 2016; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00378.2016.-A number of recent studies have highlighted large interindividual variability of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) responsiveness to mental stress in humans. The purpose of this study was to examine blood pressure (BP) and MSNA responsiveness to mental stress in a large and generalizable cohort of young adults with and without family history of hypertension (FHH). We hypothesized that subjects with FHH would demonstrate greater sympathoexcitation to mental stress than subjects without FHH. A total of 87 subjects (55 men and 32 women, 18 -40 yr of age) from recently published (n ϭ 45) and ongoing (n ϭ 42) studies were examined; 57 subjects (19 with FHH and 38 without FHH) had complete MSNA recordings at baseline. Heart rate (HR), BP, and MSNA were recorded during 5 min of supine rest and 5 min of mental stress (mental arithmetic). Resting MSNA and HR were not statistically different between subjects with and without FHH (P Ͼ 0.05), whereas resting mean arterial pressure was higher in subjects with FHH (86 Ϯ 2 vs. 80 Ϯ 1 mmHg, P Ͻ 0.05). Mental stress increased MSNA in subjects with FHH (⌬5 Ϯ 1 bursts/min), but not in subjects without FHH [⌬1 Ϯ 1 burst/min, P Ͻ 0.01 (time ϫ group)]. Mental stress increased mean arterial pressure (⌬12 Ϯ 1 and ⌬10 Ϯ 1 mmHg, P Ͻ 0.001) and HR (⌬19 Ϯ 2 and ⌬16 Ϯ 2 beats/min, P Ͻ 0.001) in subjects with and without FHH, but these increases were not different between groups [P Ն 0.05 (time ϫ group)]. MSNA and BP reactivity to mental stress were not correlated in either group. In conclusion, FHH was associated with heightened MSNA reactivity to mental stress, despite a dissociation between MSNA and BP responsiveness.family history of hypertension; muscle sympathetic nerve activity; blood pressure; cardiovascular reactivity hypothesis NEW AND NOTEWORTHY Subjects with a family history of hypertension (FHH) demon

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Section: Subjects With a Family History Of Hypertension (Fhh) Demonstmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympathetic neural reactivity to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: 20 years revisited

Fonkoue

Wang

Carter

2016

American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology

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“…In all cases, blood pressure increased between baseline and mental stress [12]. Accordingly, the influence of mental work on sympathetic nervous activity remains equivocal and differences in the sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity to blood pressure elevation [39] or a greater effect of the perceived stress level than the mental stress itself [14] could explain these discrepancies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, Dittmar et al [23] reported that for a similar mental work intensity, women perceived the workload to be more mentally challenging than men, and the latter is associated with a more important stimulation of the cardiovascular response in healthy subjects [14]. In our study, the intensity of mental work did not differ between men and women, as characterized by the NASA-Task Load Index score and the reaction time to a secondary task, which supports a recent study by Persson et al [21], where they observed no difference in cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline, heart rate activation and perceived stress level between men and women with identical job tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity (MSNA), known to represent sympathetic nervous activity [14], was found to increase [12] or decrease [15] in response to acute mental stress induced by mental arithmetic. In addition, a reduction in cardiac parasympathetic modulation may also be responsible for these hemodynamic responses observed during mental work, but the latter remains a matter of debate in healthy young individuals [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mental Work Stimulates Cardiovascular Responses through a Reduction in Cardiac Parasympathetic Modulation in Men and Women

Pérusse-Lachance¹,

Tremblay²,

Chaput³

et al. 2013

Bioenergetics

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Mental Work (MW) stimulates Cardiovascular (CV) functions in healthy adults and a reduction in cardiac parasympathetic modulation could be one mechanism involved in such a response. The influence of sex on these CV responses remains ambiguous. The aim of the study was to evaluate CV impacts of MW in healthy individuals and whether sex influences CV responses induced by MW. The impact of a 45-min reading and writing session vs. a control condition, on Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate (HR), and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), was evaluated in 44 healthy adults with the use of a randomized crossover design. The influence of sex on those variables was then evaluated. Diastolic BP (74 ± 1 vs. 69 ± 1 mm Hg; p < 0.05) and mean arterial pressure (MAP; 87 ± 7 vs. 83 ± 8 mmHg; p < 0.005), HR (68 ± 1 vs. 62 ± 1 bpm; p < 0.0001) and low frequency/high frequency ratio (2.8 ± 0.1 vs. 2.0 ± 0.1; p < 0.0001) were higher, while global HRV (SDNN: 84 ± 3 vs.104 ± 3 ms; p < 0.0001) and cardiac parasympathetic activity were lower during MW (p < 0.0001) vs. the control condition in the whole sample. During both experimental conditions, HR was higher (p < 0.0001), while BP, rMSSD, pNN50 and low frequency component of HRV were lower in women compared to men (all p < 0.05). The intensity of the cognitive demand and its influence on CV variables were comparable between men and women. These results support that MW increases BP and HR through decrement in cardiac parasympathetic modulation in healthy subjects and suggest that sex does not influence CV responses induced by cognitive demand of similar intensity.

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“…Moreover, emotional stress differs from mental stress. This was explored in the December 2008 issue of the American Journal of Physiology by Carter and colleagues, from the Department of Exercise Science at Michigan Technological University, USA [2]. They recorded muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), heart rate and blood pressure in subjects exposed to neutral or negative images, or to mental stress.…”

Section: It's Just Emotion Taking Me Overmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

Macefield

2009

Clin Auton Res

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In addition to its homeostatic role, the autonomic nervous system is responsible for generating many of the outward signs of our emotions: our tears, our racing heart, our cold sweat. While mental stress causes an increase in heart rate and sweat release, viewing emotionally charged images-especially negative imagescauses a decrease in heart rate. Children with autism spectrum disorder show increases in skin conductance (sweat release) when presented with images of faces, but their capacity to recognize faces is compromised. Conversely, children with Williams syndrome, who are very interested in faces and are socially very engaging, show blunted sudomotor responses to faces and show decreases in heart rate. Many studies have used emotionally charged visual stimuli to induce autonomic responses, and changes in electrical skin conductance as a convenient marker of autonomic arousal, to examine the brain structures involved in emotional processes. Such studies have shown that the amygdala is strongly activated during exposure to fearful images, whereas the nucleus accumbens responds strongly to erotic or romantic images (and is deactivated when exposed to negative images). Given that the nucleus accumbens forms part of the reward circuitry, it is perhaps not surprising that it is activated during that most pleasurable of autonomic acts, orgasm.

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Neural and cardiovascular responses to emotional stress in humans

Cited by 47 publications

References 23 publications

Sympathetic neural reactivity to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: 20 years revisited

Sympathetic neural reactivity to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: 20 years revisited

Mental Work Stimulates Cardiovascular Responses through a Reduction in Cardiac Parasympathetic Modulation in Men and Women

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

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