Alprazolam reduces stress-induced mortality in cardiomyopathic hamsters

Tapp, Walter N.; Natelson, Benjamin H.; Creighton, Debra; Khazam, Carol; Ottenweller, John E.

doi:10.1016/0091-3057(89)90251-7

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These experiments indicate that the differences we noted in survival between young CM hamsters in the lesion-forming period of their lives and in hamsters only a few months older is real and cannot be attributed to methodological differences across the two earlier experiments (6,9). To determine this, we used two different durations of cold exposure in our restraint protocol to produce two different stressor intensities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Based on earlier work showing that stressor intensity influences survival in these animals (9], our current stress protocol would appear to be more stressful than the one used in our first experiment. But our use of the same stressor in hamsters only 3 months apart in age in the current experiments means that differences in the nature of the stressor cannot explain the fact that the younger animals showed an increased risk from stress here.…”

Section: Stress and Heart Diseasementioning

confidence: 93%

“…Indeed this was the case. Stressors that had no effect in healthy control hamsters had lethal consequences in 2.5-month-old CMHs (9). The question then arose: Why had the 4-month CMH not been affected by stress in our earlier experiment?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Hamsters with coronary vasospasm are at increased risk from stress.

Natelson

Tapp

Drastal

et al. 1991

Psychosomatic Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Results of earlier experiments suggested that hamsters with inherited heart disease were at a higher risk of succumbing to stress during the vasospastic, lesion-forming period of their lives rather than later when the process of congestive heart failure had begun. To test this hypothesis, we stressed cardiomyopathic hamsters (CMH) whose ages differed by about 3 months; the younger of the two groups of stressed hamsters was in the vasospastic phase of the disease. The stressor was cold immobilization in which stressor intensity was manipulated using two durations of cold exposure. Log rank survival curves revealed no difference in mortality with the more intense stressor. However, significantly fewer of the older hamsters succumbed to the less intense stressor (46% as compared with 85% of the younger CMHs). Examination of the hearts in the experiment where mortality rate was the same for both groups revealed evidence of cardiac dilatation, indicative of heart failure, only in the older hamsters following stress. Since the younger hamsters did not show these changes and since they, but not the older animals, have coronary microvascular spasm and an increased susceptibility to stress, it would appear that the process of coronary vasospasm should be viewed as an independent and additional risk factor in determining the consequences of stress. Because of the effects of stress in the younger cardiomyopathic hamster, we believe that a neural link--which can be activated by stress--may be involved in the pathogenetic process of coronary vasospasm.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Stress and Heart Diseasementioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Hamsters with coronary vasospasm are at increased risk from stress.

Natelson

Tapp

Drastal

et al. 1991

Psychosomatic Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At these ages, CMHs are at the following stages of disease: active vasculopathy , compensated heart failure, and overt CHF (1). Healthy hamsters were not used in these studies because of the lack of a stress effect noted in our earlier work (6,7).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In another series of experiments, we found that 2to 3-month CMHs, which we expected to be less vulnerable than 4-and 6-month CMHs, succumbed to stress using a more intense stressor (7,8). Additionally, different stressor intensities produced different survival curves in 2.5-and 5-month CMHs; younger hamsters, in their lesion-forming period, were at an increased risk from stress (9).…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%

The Role of Stressor Intensity in Influencing the Course of Heart Disease in Cardiomyopathic Hamsters

Chang

Natelson

Ottenweller

et al. 1996

Experimental Biology and Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our earlier work showed that stress had progressively more serious consequences in a hamster model of congestive heart failure as the magnitude of heart failure worsened. Based on that study, we hypothesized that the intensity of the stressor used might play an important part in determining this outcome as well as in influencing coronary reactivity to arginine vasopressin (AVP). Cardiomyopathic (2.5, 6.5, and 10 months) hamsters (CMHs) were stressed with a 2-hr period of supine immobilization for five consecutive days. Stressor intensity was increased by exposing the hamsters to progressively longer periods at 4 degrees C: the low stress group was never put in the cold; the moderate stress group was exposed to cold for 1 hr, and the high stress group for 2 hr. CMHs were anesthetized and sacrificed 5 days after stress, and their hearts were perfused using a modified Langendorff system. Maximum +/- dP/dt, developed pressure, ventricular relaxation time, (T), and coronary vascular resistance (CVR) were recorded, and CVR was also measured following coronary infusion of AVP. Stressor intensity had no effect on cardiac mechanics in 2.5-month CMHs. In 6.5-month CMHs, only the high-intensity stressor impaired ventricular mechanics (decreased maximum +/- dP/dt and developed pressure, increased T; P < 0.05), while low and moderate stress produced no effects. In 10-month CMHs, stress at all intensities exacerbated ventricular dysfunction (decreased maximum +/- dP/dt and developed pressure; P < 0.05). These results support our first hypothesis that stressor intensity interacts multiplicatively with severity of the underlying disease to influence the course of heart failure. However, our second hypothesis was not supported, because stress-regardless of intensity-affected reactivity of the coronary vasculature to AVP only in 2.5-month CMHs. A further test of the relation of stressor intensity and coronary vascular reactivity requires study of additional groups of CMHs during the period of their disease characterized by coronary vasospasm.

show abstract

Cardiovascular activity1

Vogel

Schölkens

et al. 2002

Drug Discovery and Evaluation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alprazolam reduces stress-induced mortality in cardiomyopathic hamsters

Cited by 12 publications

References 23 publications

Hamsters with coronary vasospasm are at increased risk from stress.

Hamsters with coronary vasospasm are at increased risk from stress.

The Role of Stressor Intensity in Influencing the Course of Heart Disease in Cardiomyopathic Hamsters

Cardiovascular activity1

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About