Mental stress induces sustained elevation of blood pressure and lipid peroxidation in postmenopausal women

Mental stress is thought to underlie cardiovascular events, but there is information on oxidative stress induced by mental stress in association with cardiovascular responses in women. Using a sensitive assay for plasma 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), as a marker for oxidative stress, we addressed the relation between pressor responses and oxidative stress induced by mental or physical stress in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Healthy subjects (7 postmenopausal and 8 premenopausal women, in early and late follicular phases) were subjected to mental and physical stress evoked by a Color Word Test (CWT) and isometric handgrip, respectively. The CWT induced a rapid elevation of diastolic blood pressure (DBP), at a higher level in the postmenopausal than in the premenopausal women (p < 0.01), and this higher DBP was sustained during the CWT and recovery (p < 0.01). The CWT induced a significant elevation in plasma noradrenaline in premenopausal women in the early follicular phase and in postmenopausal women (p < 0.05). Plasma nitric oxide metabolites were higher in postmenopausal than in the premenopausal women in the late follicular phase (p < 0.05), but did not change during exposure to the two types of stress in either group. Plasma HNE was increased during recovery from the CWT, but not the handgrip, in postmenopausal women (2.4 times, p < 0.05). There was a significant difference in the time course of the CWT-induced HNE response between the postmenopausal and premenopausal women (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that mental, but not physical, stress causes sustained diastolic blood pressure elevation in postmenopausal women, accompanied by heightened oxidative stress.