Sustained forearm vasodilation in humans during mental stress is not neurogenically mediated

To evaluate the possible neurogenic influence on forearm vasodilation during mental stress (Stroop's colour word conflict test), haemodynamic and catecholamine responses were registered in 12 healthy men after axillary blockade. Forearm blood flow was measured with venous occlusion plethysmography and forearm vascular resistance was calculated, with intraarterial blood pressure data. Blood samples for arterial and venous adrenaline and noradrenaline determinations were collected. Basal forearm blood flow increased markedly after axillary blockade, but the relative responses of forearm blood flow and forearm vascular resistance to mental stress were the same as in previously studied unblocked individuals (about +125% and about -40%, respectively). There was no increase in noradrenaline overflow from the forearm during mental stress in the nerve blocked arm. Heart rate and arterial systolic pressure responses as well as catecholamine responses to mental stress were augmented in the nerve blocked group, presumably due to a certain arousal caused by the experimental procedure. Increases in forearm blood flow and decreases in forearm vascular resistance during infusion of adrenaline were similar in the nerve blocked and in the control arm. In conclusion, vasodilation in the forearm during mental stress occurs in the absence of nervous control of the vascular bed. The reactivity of the vascular bed to an exogenous vasodilator (adrenaline) remains unchanged after axillary blockade.