Central Control of Cardiovascular Reactivity to Stress

描述（由申请人提供）：心血管对压力的过度反应可能增加高血压和动脉粥样硬化的风险。应激反应性与心血管疾病之间关系的生物行为模型假设，应激事件的感知以及应激源感知转化为心血管反应是由调节心血管和认知/情绪状态的中枢神经系统网络介导的。因此，触发潜在致病性心血管应激反应的过程被认为是在中枢神经系统内启动的。然而，很少有人类研究检查了调节心血管应激反应的主要途径。在本研究中，功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）将用于验证以下假设：(a)心血管对实验室压力源的反应模式与可能涉及心血管控制和认知/情绪过程的大脑区域的激活相关；(b)在一组先前表现出心血管压力反应过度的人和一组先前表现出心血管反应减弱的人之间，压力诱发的这些大脑区域的激活存在差异。这项研究的结果有望增强我们对心血管应激反应的中心控制的理解，这可能会影响个体的心血管风险概况。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Exaggerated cardiovascular responses to stress may increase one's risk for hypertension and atherosclerosis. Biobehavioral models of the relationship between stress reactivity and cardiovascular disease assume that the perception of stressful events and the translation of stressor perceptions into cardiovascular responses are mediated by a central nervous system network that regulates both cardiovascular and cognitive/emotional states. Thus, processes that trigger potentially pathogenic cardiovascular stress responses are believed to be initiated within the central nervous system. Few studies in humans, however, have examined the central pathways that regulate cardiovascular stress responses. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to test the hypotheses that (a) patterns of cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors correlate with the activation of brain areas that are presumably involved in both cardiovascular control and cognitive/emotional processes, and (b) that a difference exists in the stressor-induced activation of these brain regions between a group of individuals who have previously demonstrated exaggerated cardiovascular stress reactivity and a group of individuals who have previously demonstrated attenuated cardiovascular reactivity. Results from this study are expected to enhance our understanding of the central control of cardiovascular stress responses, which may influence an individual's cardiovascular risk profile.