Abstract
Background
In animals, the endocannabinoid system is activated during hemodynamic insults and restrains blood pressure in part through sympathetic inhibition.
Materials and methods
We tested the hypothesis that hemodynamic stress elicited by head-up tilt testing increases systemic endocannabinoid concentrations in humans and that excessive endocannabinoid availability predisposes to presyncope.
Results
With head-up tilt, 2-arachidonoylglycerol increased, whereas anandamide remained unchanged.
Conclusions
In contrast to our expectations, anandamide plasma concentration at rest was directly correlated with orthostatic tolerance, rather than intolerance.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and BMBF grants.
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Schroeder, C., Batkai, S., Engeli, S. et al. Circulating endocannabinoid concentrations during orthostatic stress. Clin Auton Res 19, 343–346 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-009-0026-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-009-0026-1