T33. Acute Prazosin Administration Does Not Reduce Stressor Reactivity in Healthy Adults

Abstract

Norepinephrine plays a critical role in the stress response. Clarifying the psychopharmacological effects of norepinephrine manipulation on stress reactivity in humans has important implications for basic neuroscience and treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorders. Preclinical research implicates the alpha-1 norepinephrine receptor in responses to stressors. The No Shock, Predictable Shock, Unpredictable Shock (NPU) task is a human laboratory paradigm that is well positioned to test cross-species neurobiological stress mechanisms and advance experimental therapeutic approaches to clinical trials testing novel treatments for psychiatric disorders. We hypothesized that acute administration of prazosin, an alpha-1 noradrenergic antagonist, would have a larger effect on reducing stress reactivity during unpredictable, compared to predictable, stressors in the NPU task.