title: Orthostatic tolerance and spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity in men versus women after 7 days of head-down bed rest.
abstract: Many factors are involved in the development of orthostatic intolerance after real or simulated weightlessness. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of 7-day head-down bed rest (HDBR) in eight women and eight men on the spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (standard spectral method and new time-frequency algorithm) during lower body negative pressure (LBNP) tests. Results obtained before HDBR have shown in women, compared to men, higher heart rate, lower blood pressure, higher parasympathetic modulation at rest and greater decrease in baroreflex sensitivity with greater increase in sympathetic activity during LBNP. After HDBR, we observed in both men and women a dramatic decrease in orthostatic tolerance (7.0 min at R + 1 vs. 10.0 min, p<0.05, at BDC-1 in men; 5.4 vs. 9.0 min, p<0.05, in women) together with a decrease in plasma volume (-9.1 +/- 0.9% in men, -9.5 +/- 1.4% in women) and in spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity without gender effect. After HDBR, at the highest level of LBNP, diastolic blood pressure increased in men (+5.6 +/- 1.3 mm Hg) and decreased in women (-1.0 +/- 2.7 mm Hg) with a gender difference (p<0.05). This result suggests impaired vasoconstriction in women after HDBR. Neither endocrine response nor alterations to the cardiac baroreflex can explain gender differences in orthostatic tolerance after HDBR as reported by previous studies. Further studies need to be conducted in order to obtain a more precise analysis of gender difference in arteriolar vasoconstriction after HDBR. The time frequency method we developed to study changes in spontaneous baroreflex might be applied to the analysis of LBNP tests.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physiologie de l'Environnement, Lyon, France. mcustaud@club-internet.fr
authors.forename: Marc-Antoine
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Custaud
authors.forename: Edmundo Pereira
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: de Souza Neto
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abry
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Flandrin
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Millet
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duvareille
authors.forename: Jacques-Olivier
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Fortrat
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gharib
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D017704:Baroreflex / Q000502:physiology*; D001510:Bed Rest; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D004244:Dizziness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D018475:Head-Down Tilt / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008150:Lower Body Negative Pressure; D008297:Male; D010953:Plasma Volume; D012737:Sex Factors; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors