Analysis of the Variability of Blood Pressure, Pulse Rate, and Catecholamine Responsivity in Identical and Fraternal Twins

作者：Alvin P. Shapiro, James A. Nicotero, Joseph D. Sapira, Eileen T. Scheib · 发表于：Psychosomatic Medicine · 年份：1968 · DOI：10.1097/00006842-196809000-00004 · 被引用次数：30 · 研究领域：Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control、Cardiovascular and exercise physiology、Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise

Genetic differences have been demonstrated in cardiovascular responsiveness, but these responses have not correlated with autonomic nervous system activation as measured by catecholamine excretion. If genetic factors are determinants of the cardiovascular responses, a relationship should exist between twins; if biochemical responses primarily indicate arousal, their concordance might be less likely. Twelve pairs each of monozygotic and dizygotic twins were studied. Blood pressure, pulse rate, catecholamine excretion, and free fatty acid (FFA) levels were measured before and after administration of two stimulia frustrating mental exercise (the Stroop color test) and ischemic pain to the arm. Both stimuli caused brisk cardiovascular responses; the response to ischemic pain was greater than that to color for blood pressure, but not for pulse rate. In both groups, norepinephrine excretion fell, but epinephrine and vanilmandelic acid (VMA) rose, and FFA increased slightly. Significant correlations were noted in blood pressure and pulse rate measurements between individual twins, but were absent in the biochemical measurements. Using a technique described to distinguish between genetic and environmental variability, intrapair variance (between twins) was less than interpair variance (between pairs) for most cardiovascular measures, but not for catecholamine excretion. Intrapair variance for the cardiovascular responses did not change with stimulation, but increased for catecholamin...