Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Endogenously and exogenously increased noradrenaline exerts sex-different responses in humans

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 16, pages 875–877 (2002)Cite this article

The incidence of cardiovascular diseases is lower in women compared to men1 that may be linked to a different vasoconstrictor sens-itivity.2 In the human forearm a greater vasoconstrictor response in men to exogenous noradrenaline has been demonstrated.2,3,4 This has been explained by higher sensitivity of counteracting vasodilatory effects of vascular beta-adrenoceptors.5 Forearm experiments cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the systemic circulation as clearly demonstrated by adrenoceptor studies in the cutaneous circulation.6 We have therefore studied the systemic haemodynamic response to pharmacologic sympathetic stimulation in healthy male and female volunteers in two open-label studies using exogenous noradrenaline and tyramine in the absence and presence of nonspecific beta-adrenoceptor blockade by propranolol.

After approval by the Ethics Committee and written informed consent 20 female and 20 male healthy subjects aged 20–33 years received stepwise increasing intravenous doses of noradrenaline (0–160 ng/kg/min; Arterenol®, Aventis, Germany) and tyramine (0–20 μg/kg/min; Clinalfa, Läufelfingen, Switzerland). In the subsequent second study limb, 10 male and nine female volunteers who had participated in the first experiments received an i.v. infusion of propranolol (bolus 60 μg/kg, continuous infusion of 0.75 μg/kg/min) followed after 20 min by a co-infusion of increasing doses of noradrenaline (80 and 160 ng/kg/min, infusion period: 15 min/dose level) and tyramine (20 μg/kg/min over 15 min). Blood pressure, pulse rate and systolic time intervals7 were measured at frequent intervals and noradrenaline plasma concentrations determined. In order to account for potential differences in cardiovascular reactivity from hormonal changes, all female volunteers were studied in the luteal phase; that is between days −10 and −3 from the end of their regular menstrual cycle.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Gartside PS, Wang P, Glueck CJ . Prospective assessment of coronary heart disease risk factors: the NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study (NHEFS) 16-year follow-up J Am Coll Nutr 1998 17: 263–269

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kneale BJ et al. Vasoconstrictor sensitivity to noradrenaline and NG-monomethyl-L-arginine in men and women Clin Sci 1997 93: 513–518

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Majmudar NG, Robson SC, Ford GA . Effects of the menopause, gender, and estrogen replacement therapy on vas-cular nitric oxide activity J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000 85: 1577–1583

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bowyer L, Brown MA, Jones M . Vascular reactivity in men and women of reproductive age Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001 185: 88–96

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kneale BJ et al. Gender differences in sensitivity to adrenergic agonists of forearm resistance vasculature J Am Coll Cardiol 2000 36: 1233–1238

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cohen RA, Coffman JD . Beta-adrenergic vasodilator mechanism in the finger Circ Res 1981 49: 1196–1201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. De Mey C et al. Relative sensitivity of four noninvasive methods in assessing systolic cardiovascular effects of isoproterenol in healthy volunteers Clin-Pharmcol Ther 1992 52: 609–619

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wolzt M et al. Comparison of non-invasive methods for the assessment of haemodynamic drug effects in healthy male and female volunteers: sex differences in cardiovascular responsiveness Br J Clin Pharmacol 1995 39: 347–359

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Luzier AB et al. The effects of gender on adrenergic receptor responsiveness Clin Pharmacol 1998 38: 618–624

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Freedman RR, Sabharwal SC, Desai N . Sex differences in peripheral vascular adrenergic receptors Circ Res 1987 61: 581–585

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Schäfers RF et al. Influence of adrenoceptor and muscarinic receptor blockade on the cardiovascular effects of exogenous noradrenaline and endogenous noradrenaline released by infused tyramine Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 1997 355: 239–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Laitinen T et al. Age and gender dependency of baroreflex sensitivity in healthy subjects J Appl Physiol 1998 84: 576–583

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kim NS et al. The effects of beta2 adrenoceptor gene polymorphisms on pressor response during laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation Anaesthesia 2002 57: 227–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Cockcroft JR et al. Beta2-adrenoceptor polymorphism determines vascular reactivity in humans Hypertension 2000 36: 371–375

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Herrmann SM et al. Polymorphisms of the beta2 –adrenoceptor (ADRB2) gene and essential hypertension: the ECTIM and PEGASE studies J Hypertens 2002 20: 229–235

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The experiments were supported by a grant from the ‘Bürgermeisterfonds der Stadt Wien’.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics Allgemeines Krankenhaus Wien University of Vienna, Austria

    M Bayerle-Eder, F Mittermayer, J Pleiner, H Langenberger, L Schmetterer, E Polska & M Wolzt

  2. Department of Endocrinogy and Metabolism, Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics Allgemeines Krankenhaus Wien University of Vienna, Austria

    M Bayerle-Eder

  3. Department of Medical Physics, Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics Allgemeines Krankenhaus Wien University of Vienna, Austria

    L Schmetterer

  4. Clinical Institute for Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics Allgemeines Krankenhaus Wien University of Vienna, Austria

    G Söregi

Authors
  1. M Bayerle-Eder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F Mittermayer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J Pleiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H Langenberger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. L Schmetterer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. E Polska
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. G Söregi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. M Wolzt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M Wolzt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bayerle-Eder, M., Mittermayer, F., Pleiner, J. et al. Endogenously and exogenously increased noradrenaline exerts sex-different responses in humans. J Hum Hypertens 16, 875–877 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001491

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1001491

Search

Advanced search

Quick links