A review of neuroimaging studies of stressor-evoked blood pressure reactivity: emerging evidence for a brain-body pathway to coronary heart disease risk.

ABSTRACT: An individual's tendency to show exaggerated or otherwise dysregulated cardiovascular reactions to acute stressors has long been associated with increased risk for clinical and preclinical endpoints of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the 'brain-body' pathways that link stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactions to CHD risk remain uncertain. This review summarizes emerging neuroimaging research indicating that individual differences in stressor-evoked blood pressure reactivity (a particular form of cardiovascular reactivity) are associated with activation patterns in corticolimbic brain areas that are jointly involved in processing stressors and regulating the cardiovascular system. As supported empirically by activation likelihood estimates derived from a meta-analysis, these corticol

SUBMITTER: Gianaros PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2743251 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature