Sex differences in dynamic blood pressure regulation: beat-by-beat responses to muscle sympathetic nerve activity
Yasmine Coovadia, Tessa E. Adler, Craig D. Steinback, Graham Fraser, Charlotte W. Usselman
Abstract
We demonstrate that during acute sympathoinhibition, women demonstrate more sustained increases in blood pressure following sympathetic bursts of activity than men. Likewise, during prolonged sympathetic quiescence, blood pressure is less labile in women than men. This suggests that lower overall blood pressure in young women may not be mediated by smaller beat-by-beat changes in blood pressure in response to sympathetic outflow but may instead be mediated by a lower frequency of sympathetic bursts.
Topics & Concepts
MicroneurographySupine positionBlood pressureMedicineCardiologyInternal medicineBaroreflexSympathetic nervous systemSympathetic activityBeat (acoustics)BreathingAnesthesiaHeart rateAcousticsPhysicsHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlCardiovascular and exercise physiologyBlood Pressure and Hypertension Studies