Premium
Metaboreflex Contribution to Peak Pressor Response Achieved During Fatiguing Intermittent Static Exercise Is Attenuated in Postmenopausal Women
Author(s) -
Barrett Megan A,
Kim JinKwang,
Garvin Nathan M,
De Souza Mary Jane,
Pawelczyk James A,
Proctor David N
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.955.9
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , postmenopausal women , cardiology , cuff , heart rate , mean blood pressure , physical therapy , surgery
Postmenopausal women have been shown to experience greater increases in blood pressure during static exercise than their premenopausal counterparts. However, the mechanisms by which this augmented pressor response is achieved remains incompletely understood. As a result, our study sought to determine the relative contribution of the muscle metaboreflex to the peak blood pressure response during fatiguing, intermittent static exercise with graded occlusion in pre and postmenopausal women. In this study, we hypothesized that the muscle metaboreflex would provide a larger contribution to the peak pressor response in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women. Eighteen healthy women participated in this study (8 postmenopausal women, between 57–64 years; 10 premenopausal women, between 20–28 years). On the experimental day, after quiet rest, subjects were asked to squeeze a handgrip device (Stoelting Co.) at a rate of 30 contractions/minute at 10% of their maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Following a 4‐minute free flow exercise period, a blood pressure cuff on the subject's upper arm was progressively inflated at a rate of 20 mmHg/minute. Subjects continued to exercise until volitional fatigue. Blood pressure was recorded continuously on the contralateral hand (Finometer). As expected, postmenopausal women had a significantly higher systolic blood pressure at fatigue compared to premenopausal women (DSBP from rest of 40 mmHg and 24 mmHg, respectively) (p = 0.005). Consistent with our working hypothesis, postmenopausal women exhibited a metaboreflex mediated blood pressure response that tended to be greater than that in premenopausal women (DSBP from rest of 27 mmHg and 20 mmHg, respectively)(p = 0.11). However, this response contributed significantly less to the peak blood pressure response in postmenopausal women than it did in premenopausal women (SBP peak – SBP PECA of 13 mmHg and 4 mmHg, respectively) (p = 0.037). These findings suggest that while postmenopausal women exhibit a greater metaboreflex mediated blood pressure response compared to premenopausal women, the response contributes less to the peak blood pressure response in postmenopausal women. This suggests that postmenopausal women may be less reliant on the metaboreflex to generate the peak blood pressure response during fatiguing small muscle mass exercise than their premenopausal counterparts. Support or Funding Information Penn State Ambulatory Research Fund (Jaffe Endowment)