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Aerobic Fitness Influences Autonomic Support of Blood Pressure in Premenopausal, but not Postmenopausal Women
Author(s) -
Baker Sarah E,
Limberg Jacqueline K,
Nicholson Wayne T,
Curry Timothy B,
Barnes Jill N,
Joyner Michael J
Publication year - 2017
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.31.1_supplement.1056.4
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , aerobic exercise , heart rate , microneurography , cardiology , physical therapy , mean arterial pressure , menopause , baroreflex
Background The risk of hypertension increases as women reach menopause. Our group has recently reported that autonomic support of blood pressure (BP) is increased in post‐menopausal women. Given regular exercise is known to decrease the risk of developing hypertension, we investigated the role of aerobic fitness on autonomic support of BP in women. We hypothesized that trained premenopausal, but not postmenopausal, women would have less autonomic support of BP than age‐matched untrained women. Methods Twelve healthy, young premenopausal (27±1yrs) and 10 older postmenopausal (56±1yrs) women completed VO 2max tests on cycle ergometers. The participants were then stratified by fitness level based on VO 2max percentiles from the American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines (≤50 th percentile = untrained; >50 th percentile = trained; premenopausal: 7 untrained, 5 trained; postmenopausal: 5 untrained, 5 trained). On a separate day muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, microneurography, peroneal nerve), heart rate (electrocardiography), and blood pressure (brachial arterial catheter) were recorded before and during ganglionic blockade using trimethaphan camsylate (dose:1.5–7mg/min). Stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were calculated from the blood pressure waveform (WinCPRS). Results Muscle sympathetic nerve activity was higher in trained young women than in untrained young women (burst incidence: 35±11 vs. 12±2 bursts/100 heart beats, p=0.03). Young trained women had a smaller reduction in mean arterial pressure (MAP) with trimethaphan than young untrained women (ΔMAP:−5±3 vs. −15±4mmHg, p=0.01), despite a larger reduction in total peripheral resistance (ΔTPR: −6±1 vs. −2±1mmHg*min/L, p=0.02). The trained young women were able to maintain their MAP due to a greater increase in cardiac output (ΔCO: 1.4±0.4 vs. −0.3±0.3L/min, p= 0.01). In older postmenopausal women, MSNA and the fall in BP, CO, and TPR with trimethaphan were not different between trained and untrained individuals (p= 0.81, 0.16, 0.52 and 0.09, respectively). Conclusion Baseline MSNA was higher in trained premenopausal women when compared to untrained premenopausal women; however, aerobic fitness did not influence baseline MSNA in postmenopausal women. In young trained women, the fall in MAP following ganglionic blockade was only one‐third of the response seen in young untrained women. Baseline MSNA and the change in MAP, CO, and TPR with ganglionic blockade were not different between trained and untrained postmenopausal women. These data suggest aerobic fitness reduces autonomic support of blood pressure in young trained women, but not in trained postmenopausal women. Support or Funding Information Support: HL83947 (MJJ); HL131151 (SEB), DK 7352‐37 (SEB), HL118154 (JNB)