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(Circulation. 2001;103:2424.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Brief Rapid Communications |
Does Reduced Vascular Stiffening Fully Explain Preserved Cardiovagal Baroreflex Function in Older, Physically Active Men?
From the Laboratory for Cardiovascular Research, Research and Training Institute, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, and the Division on Aging, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
Correspondence to Brian E. Hunt, PhD, Laboratory for Cardiovascular Research, Research and Training Institute, Hebrew Center for Aged, 1200 Centre St, Boston, MA 02131. E-mail hunt{at}mail.hrca.harvard.edu
Background—We measured cardiovagal baroreflex gain and its vascular mechanical and neural components during dynamic baroreflex engagement in 10 young untrained men, 6 older untrained men, and 12 older, physically active men.
Methods and Results—Our
newly developed assessment of beat-to-beat carotid diameters during
baroreflex engagement estimates the mechanical transduction of pressure
into barosensory stretch (
diameter/pressure), the neural
transduction of stretch into vagal outflow (R-R
interval/diameter), and conventional integrated cardiovagal
baroreflex gain (R-R interval/pressure). Integrated gain was
lower in older untrained men than in young untrained men (6.8±1.2
versus 15.7±1.8 ms/mm Hg) due to both lower mechanical (9.1±1.0
versus 17.1±2.4 mm Hg/µm) and lower neural (0.57±0.10 versus
0.90±0.10 ms/µm) transduction. Integrated gain in older active men
(13.3±2.7 ms/mm Hg) was comparable to that in young untrained men.
This was achieved through mechanical transduction (12.1±1.4
mm Hg/µm) that was modestly higher than that in older untrained men
and neural transduction (1.00±0.20 ms/µm) comparable to that in
young untrained men. Across groups, both mechanical and neural
components were related to integrated gain; however, the neural
component carried greater predictive weight (ß=0.789 versus
0.588).
Conclusions—Both vascular and neural deficits contribute to age-related declines in cardiovagal baroreflex gain; however, long-term physical activity attenuates this decline by maintaining neural vagal control.
Key Words: aging • nervous system, autonomic • carotid arteries
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