Regulation of middle cerebral artery blood velocity during recovery from dynamic exercise in humans

Shigehiko Ogoh, James P. Fisher, Sushmita Purkayastha, Ellen A. Dawson, Paul J. Fadel, Michael J. White, Rong Zhang, Niels H. Secher, Peter B. Raven

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

We sought to examine the regulation of cerebral blood flow during 10 min of recovery from mild, moderate, and heavy cycling exercise by measuring middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCA V). Transfer function analyses between changes in arterial blood pressure and MCA V were used to assess the frequency components of dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA). After mild and moderate exercise, the decreases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and mean MCA V (MCA Vm) were small. However, following heavy exercise, MAP was rapidly and markedly reduced, whereas MCA Vm decreased slowly (-23 ± 4 mmHg and -4 ± 1 cm/s after 1 min for MAP and MCA Vm, respectively; means ± SE). Importantly, for each workload, the normalized low-frequency transfer function gain between MAP and MCA Vm remained unchanged from rest to exercise and during recovery, indicating a maintained dynamic CA. Similar results were found for the systolic blood pressure and systolic MCA V relationship. In contrast, the normalized low-frequency transfer function gain between diastolic blood pressure and diastolic MCA V (MCA Vd) increased from rest to exercise and remained elevated in the recovery period (P < 0.05). However, MCA Vd was quite stable on the cessation of exercise. These findings suggest that MCA V is well maintained following mild to heavy dynamic exercise. However, the increased transfer function gain between diastolic blood pressure and MCA Vd suggests that dynamic CA becomes less effective in response to rapid decreases in blood pressure during the initial 10 min of recovery from dynamic exercise.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)713-721
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of applied physiology
Volume102
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2007

Keywords

  • Cerebral autoregulation
  • Cerebral circulation
  • Transcranial Doppler

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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