title: Effects of Six Months Training on Physical Capacity and Metaboreflex Activity in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.
abstract: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an increased systemic vascular resistance (SVR) response during the metaboreflex. It has been hypothesized that this is the consequence of a sedentary lifestyle secondary to MS. The purpose of this study was to discover whether a 6-month training program could reverse this hemodynamic dysregulation. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: the intervention group (MSIT,n= 11), who followed an adapted training program; and the control group (MSCTL,n= 10), who continued with their sedentary lifestyle. Cardiovascular response during the metaboreflex was evaluated using the post-exercise muscle ischemia (PEMI) method and during a control exercise recovery (CER) test. The difference in hemodynamic variables such as stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), and SVR between the PEMI and the CER tests was calculated to assess the metaboreflex response. Moreover, physical capacity was measured during a cardiopulmonary test till exhaustion. All tests were repeated after 3 and 6 months (T3 and T6, respectively) from the beginning of the study. The main result was that the MSIT group substantially improved parameters related to physical capacity (+5.31 ± 5.12 ml·min-1/kg in maximal oxygen uptake at T6) in comparison with the MSCTL group (-0.97 ± 4.89 ml·min-1/kg at T6; group effect:p= 0.0004). However, none of the hemodynamic variables changed in response to the metaboreflex activation. It was concluded that a 6-month period of adapted physical training was unable to reverse the hemodynamic dys-regulation in response to metaboreflex activation in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magnani
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Olla
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pau
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Girolamo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palazzolo
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tocco
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Azzurra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doneddu
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcelli
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of CagliariCagliari, Italy; Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of CagliariCagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coghe
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Marrosu
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Concu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cocco
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marongiu
authors.affiliation: Sports Physiology Lab, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crisafulli
keywords: blood pressure; cardiac output; cardiovascular regulation; stroke volume; systemic vascular resistance