Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Role of Sympathetic Overactivity and Angiotensin II

Summary

The purpose of this study is to find out why patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have an increased risk for heart disease and high blood pressure later in life. A second purpose is to find out what causes PTSD patients to have high adrenaline levels during stress. This study will also test if a medicine called losartan improves high adrenaline levels in patients with PTSD and if a certain gene that has to do with high blood pressure might be associated with high adrenaline levels.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

18–65 years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Procedure
  Microneurography

  Skin will be stimulated with a pencil-shaped electrode to find a certain nerve. Once the nerve is found, two tiny sterile wire needles (about the size of acupuncture needles) will be put in the skin. One needle is put just under the skin at a short distance away from the nerve, and the other one into the nerve. The needles are attached to a computer recorder to record the nerve activity. It may take up to one hour to get the needles in the right place. After the tiny needle is in the right place, investigators record nerve activity at rest for about 10 minutes. Then, it will be recorded throughout the rest of the visit (up to 4 hours).

• Behavioral
  Combat virtual reality video clip

  Subjects will watch a video clip of combat on a computer screen or wearing video goggles.

• Procedure
  Handgrip Exercise

  Subjects will squeeze a hand dynamometer intermittently.

• Procedure
  Cold Pressor Test (CPT)

  Subjects' hand will be submerged in cold water (\~0-1°C) up to the wrist for 1 minute.

• Drug
  Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP)

  Subjects will receive sodium nitroprusside 100 µg, which is bolused through an antecubital intravenous catheter.

Location