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Sex differences in age‐related changes in cerebral vasodilator responses
Author(s) -
Barnes Jill N,
Taylor Jennifer L,
Nicholson Wayne T,
Joyner Michael J
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1203.11
Subject(s) - hypercapnia , vasodilation , middle cerebral artery , medicine , cardiology , anesthesia , endocrinology , acidosis , ischemia
Cerebral vasodilator responses to hypercapnia decrease with aging, and recent data suggests sex differences in cerebrovascular regulation exist. Yet, it is unknown how sex and age interact in response to the stress of cyclooxygenase inhibition. We examined cerebral vasodilator responses to hypercapnia in 7 young men (YM), 8 young women (YW), 7 older men (OM), and 6 older women (OW) before (CON) and during cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition via indomethacin (INDO). There was no age by sex interaction in middle cerebral artery velocity responses to hypercapnia (MCAv Slope). However, when accounting for mean arterial pressure during hypercapnia, there was an age by sex interaction in cerebrovascular conductance index (CVCi Slope). YM demonstrated higher CVCi Slope (1.27 ± 0.21 AU) compared with YW (0.65 ± 0.10 AU) and older adults (0.58 ± 0.10 AU in OM; 0.66 ± 0.06 AU in OW; p<0.05 for all). There was no difference in CVCi Slope between YW and OW, indicating that the age‐associated reduction in CVCi Slope only pertains to men. During INDO, there was an age by sex interaction for the ΔCVCi Slope (from CON to INDO) with YM having a greater slope compared with both YW (0.72 ± 0.15 vs. 0.27 ± 0.13 AU; p<0.01) and OM (0.26 ± 0.18 AU; p<0.01). Taken together, our results suggest that sex differences exist in the cerebrovascular response to hypercapnia with and without COX inhibition and that the effect of age is different in women compared to men.