Effect of stress on somatosensory evoked potentials

The study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in studying the response to two types of experimentally induced stressors, the cold pressor test (CPT) and exercise. The subjects were 20 healthy normotensive males, 25-35 yr old. SEPs were recorded at baseline, immediately after CPT, in the recovery period after CPT and also immediately after exercise and in the recovery period after exercise. The CPT and exercise produced no significant alteration in the absolute latencies, interpeak latency and amplitude of N 10 and N 20 components of SEPs. CPT and exercise produced changes in the systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure and the heart rate. It may be relevant to study the effect of stress on the later cortical components of the SEPs.