Correction by propranolol of the abnormal adrenaline discharge induced by emotional stress in cerebral hemorrhage patients
Stoica, E.; Enulescu, O.; Caloinescu, C.
Neurologie et Psychiatrie 18(2): 119-126
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0259-6326 PMID: 7414243 Document Number: 164936
The effect of an emotional stimulus on adrenaline (epinephrine, A) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine, NA) urinary excretion in patients with cerebral hemorrhage submitted or not to propranolol treatment was tested. The testing made without propranolol showed a consistent post-emotional increase in A urinary excretion with insignificantly changed post-emotional NA excretion. A 10 day treatment with propranolol (60 mg daily) prevented in cerebral hemorrhage patients the post-emotional A excretion and replaced it by a consistent NA excretion. The pattern of post-emotional catecholamine urinary excretion found after treatment was similar to that noticed in normal subjects. As an excessive A discharge might induce important rises in systolic blood pressure and thereby preside over the onset of cerebral bleeding, the prevention by propranolol of excessive A release in cerebral hemorrhage patients might be a useful tool for controlling their further hemorrhagic strokes.