Regulation of middle cerebral artery blood velocity during recovery from dynamic exercise in humans

• Published in: Journal of applied physiology (1985) Vol. 102; no. 2; pp. 713 - 721
• Main Authors: Ogoh, Shigehiko, Fisher, James P, Purkayastha, Sushmita, Dawson, Ellen A, Fadel, Paul J, White, Michael J, Zhang, Rong, Secher, Niels H, Raven, Peter B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD Am Physiological Soc 01.02.2007; American Physiological Society
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; Brain; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Exercise Test; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Homeostasis - physiology; Humans; Middle Cerebral Artery - physiology; Regional Blood Flow - physiology; Physical exercise; Human; Central nervous system; Middle cerebral artery; Recovery; Velocity; Encephalon; Vertebrata; Mammalia; transcranial Doppler; cerebral autoregulation; Self regulation; cerebral circulation
• ISSN: 8750-7587; 1522-1601
• DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00801.2006

1 Department of Integrative Physiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas; 2 Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri; 3 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 4 Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, and UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; and 5 Department of Anesthesia, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Submitted 20 July 2006 ; accepted in final form 23 October 2006 We sought to examine the regulation of cerebral blood flow during 10 min of recovery from mild, moderate, and heavy cycling exercise by measuring middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCA V ). Transfer function analyses between changes in arterial blood pressure and MCA V were used to assess the frequency components of dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA). After mild and moderate exercise, the decreases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and mean MCA V (MCA V m) were small. However, following heavy exercise, MAP was rapidly and markedly reduced, whereas MCA V m decreased slowly (–23 ± 4 mmHg and –4 ± 1 cm/s after 1 min for MAP and MCA V m, respectively; means ± SE). Importantly, for each workload, the normalized low-frequency transfer function gain between MAP and MCA V m remained unchanged from rest to exercise and during recovery, indicating a maintained dynamic CA. Similar results were found for the systolic blood pressure and systolic MCA V relationship. In contrast, the normalized low-frequency transfer function gain between diastolic blood pressure and diastolic MCA V (MCA V d) increased from rest to exercise and remained elevated in the recovery period ( P < 0.05). However, MCA V d was quite stable on the cessation of exercise. These findings suggest that MCA V is well maintained following mild to heavy dynamic exercise. However, the increased transfer function gain between diastolic blood pressure and MCA V d suggests that dynamic CA becomes less effective in response to rapid decreases in blood pressure during the initial 10 min of recovery from dynamic exercise. cerebral circulation; cerebral autoregulation; transcranial Doppler Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: S. Ogoh, Dept. of Integrative Physiology, Univ. of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (e-mail: sogoh{at}hsc.unt.edu )