Cold pressor test

In the cold pressor test,25 for example, the blood pressure is taken on one arm while the opposite hand is immersed in ice water for about a minute. The blood pressure change due to the immersion of the other hand in cold water may vary in various "normal" individuals from 0 to about 30 mm. of mercury. 

Many clinical observations indicate that neurogenic factors in some way influence the development and maintenance of essential hypertension. It has long been recognized that stressful situations may induce marked increases in both systolic and diastolic pressures which persist for varying periods of time (21, 38), and that hypertensives tend to have a characteristic type of personality (2, 99. Such individuals usually exhibit important components of repressed antagonism and anxiety. They do not find emotional outlets in overt acts, but rather their emotions are expressed through an increased activity of the sympatho-adrenal system with a consequent increase in blood pressure. Relief of psychic tension frequently produces salutary effects in these patients. Individuals who show hyperactive sympathetic vasomotor reflexes (as measured by the cold pressor test) are much more prone than the average individual to develop hypertension in later life (57). 

Abbott, F. V., Etienne, P, Franklin, K. B., Morgan, M. J., Sewitch, M. J., and Young, S. N., Acute tryptophan depletion blocks morphine analgesia in the cold-pressor test in humans, Psychopharmacology, 108, 60, 1992. 

A single 50-mg dose of diclofenac sodium did not have an important effect on the pharmacokinetics of a single 100-mg dose of codeine phosphate in a placebo-controlled crossover study in 12 healthy subjects. There was no effect on the metabolic clearance of morphine, and only a slight (about 5% to 10%) increase in the levels of glucuronide metabolites. In addition, diclofenac did not alter the analgesic effects of codeine as assessed in a cold pressor test (a test in which opioids, but not NSAIDs, are effective). ... 

Ganz, P., Gaspar, J., Colucci, W.S., Barry, W.H., Mudge, G.H. and Alexander, R.W. (1984). Effects of prostacyclin on coronary hemodynamics at rest and in response to cold pressor testing in patients with angina pectoris. Am. ]. Cardiol, 53, 1500-1504... 

Tassorelli, C., Micieli, G., Osipova, V., Rossi, F., Nappi, G. (1995). Pupillary and cardiovascular responses to the cold pressor test. Joi//7ia/ cf Autonomic Nervous System, 55, 45 9. 

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