title: Hypnotic modulation of flow-mediated endothelial response to mental stress.
abstract: Post-ischaemic flow mediated dilation of peripheral arteries (FMD) is transiently reduced during mental stress. This experiment was aimed at assessing whether hypnosis, which is a powerful relaxation technique, modulated the FMD response to mental stress in subjects with different hypnotic susceptibility. Results showed that hypnotic relaxation prevented the expected stress-related reduction of FMD only in highly hypnotizable subjects, suggesting a protective role of hypnotisability against vascular damage.
authors.affiliation: National Council of Research, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jambrik
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sebastiani
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Picano
authors.forename: Brunello
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ghelarducci
authors.forename: Enrica L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Santarcangelo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000628:therapy*; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000502:physiology*