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Noninvasive Measurement of Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Healthy Volunteers

NCT02264262 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 4

Last updated 2020-01-14

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Activation of the sympathetic nervous system is associated with increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Development of simple, noninvasive, reliable tools to measure sympathetic outflow in human subjects is therefore highly desirable.

Microneurography is the current gold standard measurement technique, whereby multiunit postganglionic sympathetic nerve activity is recorded with tungsten ultrafine microelectrodes inserted selectively into nerve fascicles of the peroneal nerve. Though this technique is considered extremely safe, and has been used successfully for decades in human translational physiology experiments, it has not been adopted for routine clinical assessment due to the requirement for sophisticated equipment and specific technical training and skills. Alternatively, many have adopted heart rate variability as a simple, noninvasive technique for assessing sympathetic nerve activity. However, heart rate variability does not directly measure sympathetic nerve activity, and there is much debate in the literature as to the exact source of sympathetic nerve traffic. For example, many believe it is an accurate reflection of cardiac sympathetic nerve activity, but does not accurately reflect changes in muscle or skin sympathetic nerve activity.

To address these limitations, the investigators have developed a simple, noninvasive technique to measure sympathetic nerve activity using surface electrodes.

Despite its great promise, this new approach has not yet been directly validated. The purpose of this study is therefore to validate this new technique (refered to as EKG-NA) against the current gold standard measurement technique, microneurography.

Conditions

  • Sympathetic Nerve Activity

Interventions

OTHER

Physiologic maneuvers

Subjects will perform cold pressor test, valsalva maneuver, hand grip and post-exercise occlusion in a controlled research environment

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Ronald Victor, MD · Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
45 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-10-31
Primary Completion
2017-12-31
Completion
2017-12-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02264262 on ClinicalTrials.gov