Sympatho-Adrenomedullary Activity during Experimentally Provoked Mental Stress in Patients with Labyrinthine Defects

Abstract

The effect of psychological stimuli on sympatho-adrenomedullary activity as reflected in the urinary excretion of catecholamines was studied in 19 volunteers with normal labyrinthine function, and in 20 Menière patients with single or bilateral labyrinthine defects. In the normal subjects, experimentally induced emotional stress was accompanied by a significantly increased excretion of urinary catecholamines. This was not the case in the patients with unilateral labyrinthine dysfunction; their adrenaline excretion declined throughout the experiment. In three patients with bilateral labyrinthine destruction the adrenaline excretion remained very low throughout the experiment, and the emotional stress was not accompanied by the rise found in the healthy subjects.