Psychosomatic Medicine 15:390-397 (1953)
© 1953 American Psychosomatic Society

Emotional Elevations of Blood Pressure in Trained Dogs

Possible Relation to Origin of Hypertension in Humans

¹ Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Surgery, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska

In normal trained dogs many trivial factors such as strangers in the laboratory, previous noise and confusion in the kennels, changes in the daily experimental routine, an unexpected change of experimenters, or the presence of a female dog in estrus may cause pronounced emotional disturbances resulting in marked and sudden elevation of blood pressure.

The extent of the emotional blood pressure response depends upon the natural emotional reactivity of the animal and the degree of training, being most pronounced in highly trained animals.

These factors must be considered in experiments on trained dogs when it is important to avoid emotional tension.

It is possible that frequent daily repetitions of these emotional states may over a period of months or years lead to morphological changes in the kidneys and cardiovascular system with persistent elevation of blood pressure.

It is reasonable to assume that the high degree of restraint and conditioning which are characteristic of the daily existence of the average human subject may eventually result in a similar state of irritability of the vasomotor centers so that minor changes in the daily routine or environment may lead to repeated and excessive acute blood pressure elevations and over a period of years become a factor in the genesis of certain types of hypertension.