title: Two-week normobaric intermittent-hypoxic exposures stabilize cerebral perfusion during hypocapnia and hypercapnia.
abstract: The effect of moderately extended, intermittent-hypoxia (IH) on cerebral perfusion during changes in CO2 was unknown. Thus, we assessed the changes in cerebral vascular conductance (CVC) and cerebral tissue oxygenation (ScO2) during experimental hypocapnia and hypercapnia following 14-day normobaric exposures to IH (10% O2). CVC was estimated from the ratio of mean middle cerebral arterial blood flow velocity (transcranial Doppler sonography) to mean arterial pressure (tonometry), and ScO2 in the prefrontal cortex was monitored by near-infrared spectroscopy. Changes in CVC and ScO2 during changes in partial pressure of end-tidal CO2 (PETCO2, mass spectrometry) induced by 30-s paced-hyperventilation (hypocapnia) and during 6-min CO2 rebreathing (hypercapnia) were compared before and after 14-day IH exposures in eight young nonsmokers. Repetitive IH exposures reduced the ratio of %ΔCVC/ΔPETCO2 during hypocapnia (1.00 ± 0.13 vs 1.94 ± 0.35 vs %/mmHg, P = 0.026) and the slope of ΔCVC/ΔPETCO2 during hypercapnia (1.79 ± 0.37 vs 2.97 ± 0.64 %/mmHg, P = 0.021), but had no significant effect on ΔScO2/ΔPETCO2. The ventilatory response to hypercapnia during CO2 rebreathing was significantly diminished following 14-day IH exposures (0.83 ± 0.07 vs 1.14 ± 0.09 L/min/mmHg, P = 0.009). We conclude that repetitive normobaric IH exposures significantly diminish variations of cerebral perfusion in response to hypercapnia and hypocapnia without compromising cerebral tissue oxygenation. This IH-induced blunting of cerebral vasoreactivity during CO2 variations helps buffer excessive oscillations of cerebral underperfusion and overperfusion while sustaining cerebral O2 homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology and Anatomy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Peizhen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology and Anatomy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA.
authors.forename: Xiangrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology and Anatomy, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA fred.downey@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: H Fred
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Downey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006935:Hypercapnia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016857:Hypocapnia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: CO2 variations; Cerebral tissue oxygenation; ventilatory response