nNOS and Coronary Flow During Mental Stress

What is the mechanism by which mental stress affects cardiac performance? Listen as Associate Editor Fabio Recchia (Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy) interviews lead author, and fellow Associate Editor, Ajay Shah (King’s College London) along with content expert Nazareno Paolocci (Johns Hopkins University) about the clinical translational work by Khan et al. Shah and co-authors explored for the first time the effects of mental stress elicited by the Stroop color-word test and coronary flow and diameter on patients undergoing elective diagnostic coronary catheterization. The key finding is that neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), in additional to endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), contributes to the local regulation of coronary flow in response to mental stress. The authors showed that the Stroop test stimulated nNOS without altering heart rate and blood pressure. Does this indicate specific stimulation of the perivascular nerves? Listen now to this intriguing podcast exploring cross-talk between the brain and heart.

 

Sitara Gulurkh Khan, Narbeh Melikian, Husain Shabeeh, Ana Rita Cabaco, Katherine Martin, Faisal Khan, Kevin O'Gallagher, Phil Chowienczyk, Ajay M. Shah The human coronary vasodilatory response to acute mental stress is mediated by neuronal nitric oxide synthase Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published June 23, 2017. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00745.2016