Human sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure regulation.

The results of microneurographic recordings of human vasomotor impulses involved in blood pressure control are reviewed. Special emphasis is given to acute mental stress where recent evidence suggests that the physiological effects are complex: Skin blood flow responses differ qualitatively in cold and warm subjects, muscle sympathetic activity increases slowly in the peroneal nerve but is unchanged in the radial nerve, i.v. infusion of adrenaline in stepwise increasing doses causes a moderate increase of muscle sympathetic activity during and a pronounced increase after the infusion.