The Effects of Exogenous Testosterone on Cardiovascular Stress
Presenter: Kevin Lai
Faculty Mentor: Pranjal Mehta, Erik Knight
Presentation Type: Poster 74
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Biology
Although testosterone has recently been discovered to play a role in the biological stress response, its exact function is unclear. With the increased number of annual deaths around the world being attributed to heart disease, it is important to discern how hormones like testosterone influence the magnitude of the cardiovascular stress response. It is also critical to acknowledge the possibility of biological and psychological factors that may moderate these differences, such as anxiety: a state of inner worry or uneasiness that may be present prior to stressor exposure. This experiment examined cardiovascular and autonomic responses to psychosocial stress in healthy males aged 18-45 (n = 120) that were either given exogenous testosterone or placebo before being subjected to a social-evaluative stressor. Individual levels of trait anxiety were used as a moderator of testosterone’s effects to the stress response. Results showed no significant effects of exogenous testosterone on heart rate and heart rate variability, suggesting that testosterone does not play a direct role in modulating the cardiovascular response to stress.