TY - JOUR
T1 - Impaired sympathetic neural recruitment during exercise pressor reflex activation in women with post-traumatic stress disorder
AU - D’Souza, Andrew W.
AU - Yoo, Jeung Ki
AU - Takeda, Ryosuke
AU - Badrov, Mark B.
AU - Anderson, Elizabeth H.
AU - Wiblin, Jessica I.
AU - North, Carol S.
AU - Suris, Alina
AU - Nelson, Michael D.
AU - Shoemaker, J. Kevin
AU - Fu, Qi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) increases during isometric exercise via increased firing of low-threshold action potentials (AP), recruitment of larger, higher-threshold APs, and synaptic delay modifications. Recent work found that women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) demonstrate exaggerated early-onset MSNA responses to exercise; however, it is unclear how PTSD affects AP recruitment patterns during fatiguing exercise. We hypothesized that women with PTSD (n = 11, 43 [11] [SD] years) would exhibit exaggerated sympathetic neural recruitment compared to women without PTSD (controls; n = 13, 40 [8] years). MSNA and AP discharge patterns (via microneurography and a continuous wavelet transform) were measured during 1 min of baseline, isometric handgrip exercise (IHG) to fatigue, 2 min of post-exercise circulatory occlusion (PECO), and 3 min of recovery. Women with PTSD were unable to increase AP content per burst compared to controls throughout IHG and PECO (main effect of group: P = 0.026). Furthermore, relative to controls, women with PTSD recruited fewer AP clusters per burst during the first (controls: ∆1.3 [1.2] vs. PTSD: ∆−0.2 [0.8]; P = 0.016) and second minute (controls: ∆1.2 [1.1] vs. PTSD: ∆−0.1 [0.8]; P = 0.022) of PECO, and fewer subpopulations of larger, previously silent axons during the first (controls: ∆5 [4] vs. PTSD: ∆1 [2]; P = 0.020) and second minute (controls: ∆4 [2] vs. PTSD: ∆1 [2]; P = 0.021) of PECO. Conversely, PTSD did not modify the AP cluster size–latency relationship during baseline, the end of IHG, or PECO (all P = 0.658–0.745). Collectively, these data indicate that women with PTSD demonstrate inherent impairments in the fundamental neural coding patterns elicited by the sympathetic nervous system during IHG and exercise pressor reflex activation.
AB - Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) increases during isometric exercise via increased firing of low-threshold action potentials (AP), recruitment of larger, higher-threshold APs, and synaptic delay modifications. Recent work found that women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) demonstrate exaggerated early-onset MSNA responses to exercise; however, it is unclear how PTSD affects AP recruitment patterns during fatiguing exercise. We hypothesized that women with PTSD (n = 11, 43 [11] [SD] years) would exhibit exaggerated sympathetic neural recruitment compared to women without PTSD (controls; n = 13, 40 [8] years). MSNA and AP discharge patterns (via microneurography and a continuous wavelet transform) were measured during 1 min of baseline, isometric handgrip exercise (IHG) to fatigue, 2 min of post-exercise circulatory occlusion (PECO), and 3 min of recovery. Women with PTSD were unable to increase AP content per burst compared to controls throughout IHG and PECO (main effect of group: P = 0.026). Furthermore, relative to controls, women with PTSD recruited fewer AP clusters per burst during the first (controls: ∆1.3 [1.2] vs. PTSD: ∆−0.2 [0.8]; P = 0.016) and second minute (controls: ∆1.2 [1.1] vs. PTSD: ∆−0.1 [0.8]; P = 0.022) of PECO, and fewer subpopulations of larger, previously silent axons during the first (controls: ∆5 [4] vs. PTSD: ∆1 [2]; P = 0.020) and second minute (controls: ∆4 [2] vs. PTSD: ∆1 [2]; P = 0.021) of PECO. Conversely, PTSD did not modify the AP cluster size–latency relationship during baseline, the end of IHG, or PECO (all P = 0.658–0.745). Collectively, these data indicate that women with PTSD demonstrate inherent impairments in the fundamental neural coding patterns elicited by the sympathetic nervous system during IHG and exercise pressor reflex activation.
KW - Action potentials
KW - Metaboreflex
KW - Microneurography
KW - Muscle sympathetic nerve activity
KW - PTSD
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U2 - 10.1007/s10286-022-00858-1
DO - 10.1007/s10286-022-00858-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 35226233
AN - SCOPUS:85125423654
SN - 0959-9851
VL - 32
SP - 115
EP - 129
JO - Clinical Autonomic Research
JF - Clinical Autonomic Research
IS - 2
ER -