The Effects of Social Support and Oxytocin Administration on Physiological Stress Reactivity in Essential Hypertension

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2016-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Male

Summary

To test a psychopharmacological intervention strategy which may provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the physiological hyperreactivity to stress observed in hypertension, we plan to test the effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin and social support on the neurobiological and psychological responsiveness to social stress. The study population for this project consists of 80 hypertensive and 80 normotensive non-smoking medication-free men. We expect exogenous oxytocin administration to enable hypertensives to effectively take advantage of the provided social support. Thereby, oxytocin may enhance the effect of social support on reducing the previously observed physiological hyperreactivity to stress in essential hypertensives.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital Inselspital, Berne
• Collaborator: University of Bern
• Treatments: Oxytocin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged between 18 and 80 years

• sufficient knowledge of German language in reading and understanding

• medication-free

• non-smoking

• systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 < 180 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 < 110 mmHg for the hypertension group

• systolic blood pressure < 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg for the normotensive control

• written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

• any alcohol, caffeine, and theine consumption 24 hours before the experiment

• regular strenuous exercise

• alcohol and illicit drug abuse

• liver and renal diseases

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

• allergies and atopic diathesis

• rheumatic diseases

• HIV

• cancer

• psychiatric and neurological diseases

• current infectious diseases