scholarly journals Hormone phase influences sympathetic responses to high levels of lower body negative pressure in young healthy women

2016 ◽  
Vol 311 (5) ◽  
pp. R957-R963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte W. Usselman ◽  
Chantelle A. Nielson ◽  
Torri A. Luchyshyn ◽  
Tamara I. Gimon ◽  
Nicole S. Coverdale ◽  
...  

We tested the hypothesis that sympathetic responses to baroreceptor unloading may be affected by circulating sex hormones. During lower body negative pressure at −30, −60, and −80 mmHg, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), heart rate, and blood pressure were recorded in women who were taking ( n = 8) or not taking ( n = 9) hormonal contraceptives. All women were tested twice, once during the low-hormone phase (i.e., the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and the placebo phase of hormonal contraceptive use), and again during the high-hormone phase (i.e., the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle and active phase of contraceptive use). During baroreceptor unloading, the reductions in stroke volume and resultant increases in MSNA and total peripheral resistance were greater in high-hormone than low-hormone phases in both groups. When normalized to the fall in stroke volume, increases in MSNA were no longer different between hormone phases. While stroke volume and sympathetic responses were similar between women taking and not taking hormonal contraceptives, mean arterial pressure was maintained during baroreceptor unloading in women not taking hormonal contraceptives but not in women using hormonal contraceptives. These data suggest that differences in sympathetic activation between hormone phases, as elicited by lower body negative pressure, are the result of hormonally mediated changes in the hemodynamic consequences of negative pressure, rather than centrally driven alterations to sympathetic regulation.

2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (2) ◽  
pp. R468-R475 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Floras ◽  
Gary C. Butler ◽  
Shin-Ichi Ando ◽  
Steven C. Brooks ◽  
Michael J. Pollard ◽  
...  

Lower body negative pressure (LBNP; −5 and −15 mmHg) was applied to 14 men (mean age 44 yr) to test the hypothesis that reductions in preload without effect on stroke volume or blood pressure increase selectively muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), but not the ratio of low- to high-frequency harmonic component of spectral power (PL/PH), a coarse-graining power spectral estimate of sympathetic heart rate (HR) modulation. LBNP at −5 mmHg lowered central venous pressure and had no effect on stroke volume (Doppler) or systolic blood pressure but reduced vagal HR modulation. This latter finding, a manifestation of arterial baroreceptor unloading, refutes the concept that low levels of LBNP interrogate, selectively, cardiopulmonary reflexes. MSNA increased, whereas PL/PH and HR were unchanged. This discordance is consistent with selectivity of efferent sympathetic responses to nonhypotensive LBNP and with unloading of tonically active sympathoexcitatory atrial reflexes in some subjects. Hypotensive LBNP (−15 mmHg) increased MSNA and PL/PH, but there was no correlation between these changes within subjects. Therefore, HR variability has limited utility as an estimate of the magnitude of orthostatic changes in sympathetic discharge to muscle.


1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-367
Author(s):  
Tania L. Culham ◽  
Gabrielle K. Savard

Several studies indicate that carotid baroreflex responsiveness is a good predictor of orthostatic tolerance. Two groups of healthy women with high (HI) and low (LO) carotid baroreflex responsiveness were studied (a) to determine any differences in the level of orthostatic tolerance of the two groups, and (b) to study the hemodynamic strategies used by HI and LO responders to regulate arterial pressure during the orthostatic challenge of lower body negative pressure (LBNP). Orthostatic tolerance was similar between the two groups, whereas the hemodynamic strategies recruited to maintain blood pressure at −40 mmHg LBNP differed: HI responders exhibited greater LBNP-induced decreases in stroke volume and cardiac output, as well as a greater increase in peripheral resistance compared to LO responders (p < .05). In addition, a significant increase in plasma renin activity during LBNP was found in the HI responders only. No significant between-group differences were found in arterial and cardiopulmonary control of vascular resistance or arterial haroreflex control of heart rate during LBNP. Key words: arterial pressure, carotid baroreceptor, lower body negative pressure, orthostatic tolerance, stroke volume


1991 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 1401-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Rea ◽  
M. Hamdan ◽  
M. P. Clary ◽  
M. J. Randels ◽  
P. J. Dayton ◽  
...  

We compared changes in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) during graded lower body negative pressure (LBNP) and 450 ml of hemorrhage in nine healthy volunteers. During LBNP, central venous pressure (CVP) decreased from 6.1 +/- 0.4 to 4.5 +/- 0.5 (LBNP -5 mmHg), 3.4 +/- 0.6 (LBNP -10 mmHg), and 2.3 +/- 0.6 mmHg (LBNP -15 mmHg), and there were progressive increases in SNA at each level of LBNP. The slope relating percent change in SNA to change in CVP during LBNP (mean +/- SE) was 27 +/- 11%/mmHg. Hemorrhage of 450 ml at a mean rate of 71 +/- 5 ml/min decreased CVP from 6.1 +/- 0.5 to 3.7 +/- 0.5 mmHg and increased SNA by 47 +/- 11%. The increase in SNA during hemorrhage was not significantly different from the increase in SNA predicted by the slope relating percent change in SNA to change in CVP during LBNP. These data show that nonhypotensive hemorrhage causes sympathoexcitation and that sympathetic responses to LBNP and nonhypotensive hemorrhage are similar in humans.


2001 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duminda N. WIJEYSUNDERA ◽  
Gary C. BUTLER ◽  
Shin-ichi ANDO ◽  
Michael J. POLLARD ◽  
Peter PICTON ◽  
...  

Mechanisms responsible for presyncope during lower body negative pressure (LBNP) in otherwise healthy subjects are poorly understood. Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), blood pressure, heart rate (HR), HR power spectra, central venous pressure (CVP) and stroke volume were determined in 14 healthy men subjected to incremental LBNP. Of these, seven experienced presyncope at LBNP >-15 mmHg. Subjects who tolerated LBNP >-15 mmHg had significantly lower CVP (2.6±1.0 versus 7.2±1.2 mmHg; means±S.E.M., P < 0.02), HR (59±2 versus 66±3 beats/min, P < 0.05) and MSNA burst frequency (29.0±2.4 versus 39.0±3.5 bursts/min, P < 0.05) during supine rest. LBNP at -15 mmHg had no effect on blood pressure, but caused similar and significant reductions in stroke volume and cardiac output in both groups. Subjects who tolerated LBNP had significant reflex increases in HR, MSNA burst frequency and burst amplitude with LBNP of -15 mmHg. These responses were absent in those who experienced presyncope. The gain of the cardiac baroreflex regulation of MSNA was markedly attenuated in pre-syncopal subjects (1.2±0.6 versus 8.8±1.4 bursts/100 heart beats per mmHg; P < 0.001). Healthy subjects who experience presyncope in response to LBNP appear more dependent, when supine, upon MSNA to maintain preload, and less able to increase sympathetic vasoconstrictor discharge to skeletal muscle reflexively in response to orthostatic stimuli.


1990 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Cullen ◽  
J. R. Cockcroft ◽  
D. J. Webb

1. Six healthy male subjects received 0.9% (w/v) NaCl (saline) followed by incremental doses of bradykinin (1, 3 and 10 pmol/min), via the left brachial artery. Blood flow and the response of blood flow to lower-body negative pressure were measured in both forearms during infusion of saline and each dose of bradykinin. 2. Bradykinin produced a moderate and dose-dependent increase in blood flow in the infused, but not the non-infused, forearm. Lower-body negative pressure produced an approximately 15–20% reduction in blood flow in both forearms, and this response was unaffected by local infusion of bradykinin. 3. Bradykinin, in contrast to angiotensin II, had no acute effect on peripheral sympathetic responses to lower-body negative pressure. We conclude that, in forearm resistance vessels in man, withdrawal of angiotensin II, rather than accumulation of bradykinin, is likely to account for the attenuation of peripheral sympathetic responses after acute administration of a converting-enzyme inhibitor.


2009 ◽  
Vol 296 (2) ◽  
pp. H480-H488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Fu ◽  
Shigeki Shibata ◽  
Jeffrey L. Hastings ◽  
Anand Prasad ◽  
M. Dean Palmer ◽  
...  

Low levels (i.e., ≤20 mmHg) of lower body negative pressure (LBNP) have been utilized to unload “selectively” cardiopulmonary baroreceptors in humans, since steady-state mean arterial pressure and heart rate (HR) have been found unchanged at such levels. However, transient reductions in blood pressure (BP), followed by reflex compensation, may occur without detection, which could unload arterial baroreceptors. The purposes of this study were to test the hypothesis that the arterial baroreflex is engaged even during low levels of LBNP and to determine the time course of changes in hemodynamics. Fourteen healthy individuals (age range 20–54 yr) were studied. BP (Portapres and Suntech), HR (ECG), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) or pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (PDP) and right atrial pressure (RAP) (Swan-Ganz catheter) and hemodynamics (Modelflow) were recorded continuously at baseline and −15- and −30-mmHg LBNP for 6 min each. Application of −15-mmHg LBNP resulted in rapid and sustained falls in RAP and PCWP or PDP, progressive decreases in cardiac output and stroke volume, followed subsequently by transient reductions in both systolic and diastolic BP, which were then restored through the arterial baroreflex feedback mechanism after ∼15 heartbeats. Additional studies were performed in five subjects using even lower levels of LBNP, and this transient reduction in BP was observed in three at −5- and in all at −10-mmHg LBNP. The delay for left ventricular stroke volume to fall at −15-mmHg LBNP was about 10 cardiac cycles. An increase in systemic vascular resistance was detectable after 20 heartbeats during −15-mmHg LBNP. Steady-state BP and HR remained unchanged during mild LBNP. However, BP decreased, while HR increased, at −30-mmHg LBNP. These results suggest that arterial baroreceptors are consistently unloaded during low levels (i.e., −10 and −15 mmHg) of LBNP in humans. Thus “selective” unloading of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors cannot be presumed to occur during these levels of mild LBNP.


2009 ◽  
Vol 297 (5) ◽  
pp. H1760-H1766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine F. Notarius ◽  
Beverley L. Morris ◽  
John S. Floras

Many heart failure (HF) patients exhibit paradoxical forearm vasodilation when central blood volume is reduced by lower body negative pressure (LBNP). We tested the hypothesis that this response results from reflex sympathetic withdrawal. We recorded simultaneously forearm blood flow, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), and plasma norepinephrine (PNE) during four random applications of LBNP, −5, −10, −20, and −40 mmHg, in 12 men with HF (mean left ventricular ejection fraction = 24 ± 2%) and 10 healthy, normal, age-matched men (N). Compared with N, MSNA burst frequency ( P = 0.001) and PNE ( P = 0.005) were significantly higher in the HF group, both at rest and during LBNP. As anticipated in N, LBNP −40 mmHg significantly increased MSNA (+14.2 ± 2.5 bursts/min; P < 0.05) and PNE (+0.83 ± 0.22 nmol/l; P < 0.05) and decreased forearm vascular conductance (FVC) (−11.7 ± 3.2 ml·min−1·mmHg−1; P < 0.05). In the HF group, LBNP elicited similar increases in MSNA (+11.5 ± 2.0; P < 0.05) and PNE (+0.85 ± 0.12; P < 0.05), without affecting FVC significantly (−4.1 ± 2.4; P = 0.01 vs. N, interaction P = 0.03). However, within the HF group, responses were bimodal: LBNP −40 mmHg increased MSNA in all subjects ( P < 0.001), yet the six patients with nonischemic or dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) exhibited significant vasoconstriction (decrease in FVC; P = 0.001), whereas the six patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) exhibited significant vasodilation (increase in FVC; P < 0.02 vs. DCM and N; interaction P = 0.02). Cold pressor testing increased MSNA and decreased FVC in ICM ( n = 4). Thus paradoxical forearm vasodilator responses to LBNP in HF are not mediated by reflex sympathetic withdrawal. ICM and DCM patients differ qualitatively in their vascular responses to hypotensive LBNP.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Ligtenberg ◽  
P J Blankestijn ◽  
H A Koomans

Sudden dialysis-related hypotension is characterized by paradoxical vasodilation, suggestive of sympathoinhibition. A similar hypotensive reaction can be evoked by lower body negative pressure (LBNP), which thus allows the study of the numerous factors involved in dialysis hypotension separately. This article examines the influence of changes in volume status on the hemodynamic response to LBNP (45 mmHg up to the iliac crest, maximum 60 min) in 12 healthy subjects. LBNP caused a decrease in cardiac index and pulse pressure, and an increase in heart rate and total peripheral resistance, most of which developed within the first 3 min of LBNP. Six subjects developed sudden hypotension characterized by vasodilation after 9 +/- 4 min of LBNP. After saline expansion (25 ml/kg), which increased blood volume by approximately 8%, five subjects endured LBNP for the full 60 min. However, after 60 min of LBNP, the circulatory parameters suggested a similar critical situation as that observed before presyncope in their first experiment. The other six subjects endured the full 60 min of LBNP. After furosemide-induced volume reduction associated with 1.6 +/- 0.2 kg weight loss and approximately 7% blood volume reduction, five of them developed vasodilatory presyncope after 17 +/- 5 min of LBNP. Comparison of presyncopal and nonpresyncopal experiments within subjects, as well as between subjects, showed that the early (3 min) response to LBNP was different: Despite similar decreases in cardiac index, the values for systolic pressure, pulse pressure, peripheral resistance, and stroke volume were lower, and the heart rate was higher in the experiments ending in presyncope. It is concluded that the volume status is a determinant of the tolerance to LBNP, probably by affecting the vasoconstrictive response. By inference, this study suggests that the vasoconstrictive response to the hemodynamic stress of hemodialysis is also influenced by the volume status.


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