The Effect of Mental Stress on Catecholamines, their Metabolites and Plasma Renin Activity in Patients with Essential Hypertension and in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

1. Ten patients with essential hypertension and ten healthy men were submitted to mental stress consisting of Kraepelin's arithmetic test combined with noise. Concentrations of plasma and urine catecholamines and of their metabolites as well as plasma renin activity before and after the test were studied. 2. In both groups a significant increase of noradrenaline and adrenaline in blood and noradrenaline in urine was observed. The urinary excretion of dopamine fell significantly in both groups after stress. 3. After mental stress a significant increase in urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol was observed in both groups. The excretion of vanillylmandelic acid decreased significantly only in healthy subjects. 4. The plasma renin activity rose significantly in both groups but the increase was more pronounced in healthy subjects.

Effect of Mental Stress on Plasma Homovanillic Acid in Healthy Human Subjects

“…The present version of Kraepelin's arithmetic test (Uchida-Kraepelin test) requires intellectual ability to the extent that subjects taking diazepam (20 mg/day) show marked deterioration in performance (Murasaki et al 1989). Januszewicz et al (1979) examined the effect of Kraepelin's arithmetic test on blood and urinary catecholamine concentrations. In that study, increased NE and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol concentrations in urine as well as increased blood NE levels were observed in healthy subjects following Kraepelin's test (Januszewicz et al).…”

“…Previous studies investigating the effect of physical or mental stress generally have focused on changes in blood or urinary levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline (NE) or their metabolites (Halbrugge et al 1988;Januszewicz et al 1979). The observed decrease in pHVA levels caused by mental stress could be explained by both central and peripheral events.…”

“…However, there has been little study of the effect of mental stress on pHVA levels. Previous studies report altered blood or urinary levels of catecholamines attributable to mental stress in humans (Januszewicz et al 1979;Frankenhaeuser et al 1985;Rauste-von Wright and Frankenhaeuser 1989). Changes in DA-dependent behaviors attributable to mental stress have been reported in laboratory animals (Friedhoff et al 1995).…”

Effects of Oral Atenolol and Propranolol on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Plasma Cyclic Adenosine 3’:5’-Monophosphate in Borderline Hypertensive Patients

“…Borderline hypertensives seem to be spe cially prone to emotional stress [14,15]. as was clearly manifested in our patients by their response to mental arithmetic and Stroop card reading.…”

Schizophrenia and Plasma Homovanillic Acid in Response to Mental Stress Methodological Considerations

“…Changes in blood or urine levels of catecholamine neurotransmitters including dopamine (DA) under the influence of mental stress have been a focus of several previous investigations (Januszewics et al 1979;Frankenhaeuser et al 1985;Rauste-von Wright and Frankenmaeuser 1989;Zemishlany and Davidson 1996). We recently studied the effect of mental stress on plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA), a major metabolite of DA, in normal control subjects and patients with schizophrenia (Sumiyoshi et al 1998(Sumiyoshi et al , 1999.…”