title: Dynamics of middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity during moderate-intensity exercise.
abstract: The dynamic response to a stimulus such as exercise can reveal valuable insights into systems control in health and disease that are not evident from the steady-state perturbation. However, the dynamic response profile and kinetics of cerebrovascular function have not been determined to date. We tested the hypotheses that bilateral middle cerebral artery blood flow mean velocity (MCAV) increases exponentially following the onset of moderate-intensity exercise in 10 healthy young subjects. The MCAVresponse profiles were well fit to a delay (TD) + exponential (time constant, τ) model with substantial agreement for baseline [left (L): 69, right (R): 64 cm/s, coefficient of variation (CV) 11%], response amplitude (L: 16, R: 13 cm/s, CV 23%), TD (L: 54, R: 52 s, CV 9%), τ (L: 30, R: 30 s, CV 22%), and mean response time (MRT) (L: 83, R: 82 s, CV 8%) between left and right MCAVas supported by the high correlations (e.g., MRTr= 0.82,P< 0.05) and low CVs. Test-retest reliability was high with CVs for the baseline, amplitude, and MRT of 3, 14, and 12%, respectively. These responses contrasted markedly with those of three healthy older subjects in whom the MCAVbaseline and exercise response amplitude were far lower and the kinetics slowed. A single older stroke patient showed baseline ipsilateral MCAVthat was lower still and devoid of any exercise response whatsoever. We conclude that kinetics analysis of MCAVduring exercise has significant potential to unveil novel aspects of cerebrovascular function in health and disease.NEW & NOTEWORTHYResolution of the dynamic stimulus-response profile provides a greater understanding of the underlying the physiological control processes than steady-state measurements alone. We report a novel method of measuring cerebrovascular blood velocity (MCAv) kinetics under ecologically valid conditions from rest to moderate-intensity exercise. This technique reveals that brain blood flow increases exponentially following the onset of exercise with1) a strong bilateral coherence in young healthy individuals, and2) a potential for unique age- and disease-specific profiles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas; sbillinger@kumc.edu.
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Billinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.|College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas; and.
authors.forename: Jesse C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kwapiszeski
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas.
authors.forename: Jason-Flor V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Sisante
authors.affiliation: University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Center, Fairway, Kansas.
authors.forename: Eric D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Vidoni
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maletsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.|College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas; and.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Poole
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aging; blood flow velocity; brain blood flow; middle cerebral artery; stroke