Citations

New FindingsWhat is the topic of this review?Over the past decade, our team has investigated interindividual variability in human blood pressure regulation.What advances does it highlight?In men, we have found a tight relationship between indices of sympathetic activity and vascular resistance across the age span. This relationship is absent in young women but seen in postmenopausal women. These sex and age differences in vascular resistance are largely a result of changes in the balance of vasodilating and vasoconstricting adrenergic receptor tone. When these changes are considered along with cardiac output, a coherent picture is beginning to emerge of why blood pressure rises more with age in women than men.Arterial pressure is a key regulated variable in the cardiovascular system with important health implications. Over the last 12 years, we have used physiological measurements, including muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), to explore the balance among mean arterial blood pressure, cardiac output and total peripheral resistance (TPR) in normotensive humans. We have shown that these determinants of blood pressure can vary widely in different subjects and how they vary depends on sex and age. In young men, there is a direct relationship between MSNA and TPR but no relationship with blood pressure. This is because cardiac output is proportionally lower in those with high MSNA and TPR. In contrast, in young women there is no relationship between MSNA and TPR (or cardiac output); this is because β‐adrenergic vasodilator mechanisms offset α‐adrenergic vasoconstriction. Thus, blood pressure is unrelated to MSNA in young women. In older women, β‐adrenergic vasodilator mechanisms are diminished, and a direct relationship between MSNA and TPR is seen. In older men, the relationships among these variables are less clear cut, perhaps owing to age‐related alterations in endothelial function. With ageing, the relationship between MSNA and blood pressure becomes positive, more so in women than in men. The finding that the physiological control of blood pressure is so different in men and women and that it varies with age suggests that future studies of mechanisms of hypertension will reveal corresponding differences among groups.

Endogenous female sex hormones influence muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), a regulator of arterial blood pressure and important factor in hypertension development. Although ≈80% of American women report using hormonal contraceptives sometime during their life, the influence of combined oral contraceptives (OCs) on MSNA and systemic hemodynamics remains equivocal. The goal of this study was to determine whether women taking OCs have altered MSNA and hemodynamics (cardiac output and total peripheral resistance) at rest during the placebo phase of OC use compared with women with natural menstrual cycles during the early follicular phase. We retrospectively analyzed data from studies in which healthy, premenopausal women (aged 18–35 years) participated. We collected MSNA values at rest and hemodynamic measurements in women taking OCs (n=53; 25±4 years) and women with natural menstrual cycles (n=74; 25±4 years). Blood pressure was higher in women taking OCs versus those with natural menstrual cycles (mean arterial pressure, 89±1 versus 85±1 mm Hg, respectively; P =0.01), although MSNA was similar in both groups (MSNA burst incidence, 16±1 versus 18±1 bursts/100 heartbeats, respectively; P =0.19). In a subset of women in which detailed hemodynamic data were available, those taking OCs (n=33) had similar cardiac output (4.9±0.2 versus 4.7±0.2 L/min, respectively; P =0.47) and total peripheral resistance (19.2±0.8 versus 20.0±0.9 U, respectively; P =0.51) as women with natural menstrual cycles (n=22). In conclusion, women taking OCs have higher resting blood pressure and similar MSNA and hemodynamics during the placebo phase of OC use when compared with naturally menstruating women in the early follicular phase.

In human skin, the vasodilator response to local heating includes a sensory nerve-dependent peak followed by a nadir and then a slower, nitric oxide-mediated, endothelium-dependent vasodilation. To investigate whether chronic sympathectomy diminishes this endothelium-dependent vasodilation, we studied individuals who had previously undergone surgical T2 sympathectomy ( n = 9) and a group of healthy controls ( n = 8). We assessed the cutaneous vascular response (laser-Doppler) to 30 min of local warming to 42.5°C on the ventral forearm (no sympathetic innervation) and the lower legs (sympathetic nerves intact). Lower body negative pressure (LBNP) was measured to confirm sympathetic denervation. During local warming in sympathectomized individuals, vascular conductance reached an initial peak at both sites [achieving 1.73 ± 0.22 laser-Doppler units (LDU)/mmHg in the forearm and 1.92 ± 0.21 LDU/mmHg in the leg]. It then decreased to a nadir in the innervated leg [to 1.77 ± 0.23 LDU/mmHg ( P < 0.05)] but not in the sympathectomized arm (1.69 ± 0.21 LDU/mmHg; P > 0.10). The maximal vasodilation seen during the slower phase was not different between limbs or between groups. Furthermore, LBNP caused a 44% reduction in forearm vascular conductance (FVC) in control subjects, but FVC did not decrease significantly in sympathectomized individuals, confirming sympathetic denervation. These data indicate that endothelial function in human skin is largely preserved after sympathectomy. The altered pattern of the response suggests that the nitric oxide-dependent portion may be accelerated in sympathectomized limbs.

Although it is well established that severe chronic hyperglycemia is associated with microvascular disease, it is not known whether transient hyperglycemia similar to that observed with impaired glucose tolerance or early Type 2 diabetes contributes to this pathology by altering microvascular function. To test the hypothesis that acute hyperglycemia decreases microvascular vasodilator responsiveness in human skin, we measured the cutaneous vasodilator response to local warming. This response can be divided into two phases, an initial peak that relies predominantly on local sensory nerves and a second slower phase that is largely dependent on endothelial nitric oxide. We reasoned that a change in one or both phases would indicate a change in the corresponding mechanism(s) with hyperglycemia. Twenty-eight healthy volunteers (14 women, 14 men) were randomly divided into three groups, corresponding to 6 h of euglycemia ( n = 8), 6 h when glucose was clamped at ∼7 mmol/l ( n = 10), or 6 h when glucose was varied to mimic a postprandial pattern (i.e., peak glucose ∼11.1 mmol/l) commonly observed in individuals with impaired glucose tolerance ( n = 10). Insulin concentrations in all instances were maintained at ∼65 pmol/l by means of continuous infusions of somatostatin and insulin. Glucagon and growth hormone were also continuously infused to maintain their basal concentrations. Despite substantial differences in both the level and pattern of glucose concentrations, neither maximum cutaneous vasodilation nor the pattern of the vasodilator response to local warming differed over the 6 h of study. We conclude that acute hyperglycemia similar to levels commonly observed in people with either early Type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance does not alter the vasodilator response to local warming of the skin in humans.

In sedentary individuals, postexercise hypotension after a single bout of aerobic exercise is due to a peripheral vasodilation. Endurance exercise training has the potential to modify this response and perhaps reduce the degree of postexercise hypotension. We tested the hypothesis that endurance exercise-trained men and women would have blunted postexercise hypotension compared with sedentary subjects but that the mechanism of hypotension would be similar (i.e., vasodilation). We studied 16 endurance-trained and 16 sedentary men and women. Arterial pressure, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were determined before and after a single 60-min bout of exercise at 60% peak oxygen consumption. All groups exhibited a similar degree of postexercise hypotension (∼4–5 mmHg; P < 0.05 vs. preexercise). In sedentary men and women, hypotension was the result of vasodilation (Δresistance: −8.9 ± 2.2%). In endurance-trained women, hypotension was also the result of vasodilation (−8.1 ± 4.1%). However, in endurance-trained men, hypotension was the result of a reduced cardiac output (−5.2 ± 2.4%; P < 0.05 vs. all others) and vasodilation was absent (−0.7 ± 3.3%; P < 0.05 vs. all others). Thus we conclude the magnitude of postexercise hypotension is similar in sedentary and endurance-trained men and women but that endurance-trained men and women achieve this fall in pressure via different mechanisms.

To determine whether endothelial function is altered by chronic surgical sympathectomy, we infused ACh, isoproterenol, nitroprusside (NTP), and the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N G-mono-methyl-l-arginine (l-NMMA) into the brachial arteries of nine patients 5–64 mo after thoracic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. Age- and gender-matched controls were also studied. Forearm blood flow (FBF) was measured by venous occlusion plethysmography. Lower body negative pressure was used to assess reflex vasoconstrictor responses. Tyramine, which acts locally and causes norepinephrine release from sympathetic nerves, was also administered via the brachial artery. FBF at rest was 2.5 ± 0.4 ml · dl−1 · min−1 in the patients and 2.5 ± 0.3 ml · dl−1 · min−1 in the controls ( P = 0.95). The normal vasoconstrictor responses to lower body negative pressure were abolished in the patients. By contrast, tyramine produced dose-dependent vasoconstriction in the patients that was identical to that of controls. The dose-response curves to ACh were similar in patients and controls, with maximum values of 19.3 ± 4.4 vs. 25.5 ± 2.8 ml · dl−1 · min−1, respectively. l-NMMA reduced baseline FBF similarly and reduced the maximal FBF response to ACh in both groups (patients 8.9 ± 3.5 vs. controls 9.7 ± 2.5 ml · dl−1 · min−1). The vasodilation to isoproterenol was similar and blunted to the same extent in both groups by l-NMMA. The responses to NTP in patients and controls were similar and not affected byl-NMMA. We conclude that, in humans, chronic surgical sympathectomy does not cause major disruptions in vascular function in the forearm. The normal vasoconstrictor responses to tyramine indicate that there were viable sympathetic nerves in the forearm that were not engaged by LBNP.

Interindividual variability in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) has provided insight into integrative mechanisms contributing to blood pressure (BP) regulation in humans. In young people, the influence of high SNA on BP is balanced by lower cardiac output and less adrenergic vasoconstrictor responsiveness. Older people have higher SNA and higher BP. We hypothesized that SNA has a restraining effect on peripheral vasodilator responsiveness in young and older men, such that individuals with higher tonic SNA would show less forearm vasodilatation to exogenous vasodilators. We measured muscle SNA (MSNA; microneurography) and forearm vasodilator responses to intra-arterial infusions of acetylcholine (ACh; endothelium dependent) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP; endothelium independent) in 13 young (age; 27 ± 1 yr) and 16 older (61 ± 2 yr) men. Forearm vascular conductance (FVC) responses to ACh were lower in the older men at the two highest doses (2 and 4 μg·100 ml−1·min−1; Δ395 ± 81 vs. 592 ± 87% and 412 ± 87 vs. 616 ± 132%, P < 0.05), and MSNA was higher (64 ± 4 vs. 41 ± 2 bursts/100 hb; P < 0.05). There was no difference in the FVC response to SNP between young and older men ( P > 0.05). In young men, there was an inverse relationship between resting MSNA and FVC responses (%change) to both ACh and SNP ( r = −0.83 and r = −0.83, respectively; P < 0.05). In older men, however, this relationship was not observed. Tonic SNA may act to restrain vasodilator responses in young men, whereas in older men a lack of such restraint may be protective against the pressor effects of higher SNA.

The autonomic nervous system plays a central role in both acute and chronic blood pressure regulation in humans. The activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is positively associated with peripheral resistance, an important determinant of mean arterial pressure in men. In contrast, there is no association between sympathetic nerve activity and peripheral resistance in women before menopause, yet a positive association after menopause. We hypothesized that autonomic support of blood pressure is higher after menopause in women. We examined the effect of ganglionic blockade on arterial blood pressure and how this relates to baseline muscle sympathetic nerve activity in 12 young (25±1 years) and 12 older postmenopausal (61±2 years) women. The women were studied before and during autonomic blockade using trimethaphan camsylate. At baseline, muscle sympathetic nerve activity burst frequency and burst incidence were higher in the older women (33±3 versus 15±1 bursts/min; 57±5 versus 25±2 bursts/100 heartbeats, respectively; P <0.05). Muscle sympathetic nerve activity bursts were abolished by trimethaphan within minutes. Older women had a greater decrease in mean arterial pressure (−29±2 versus −9±2 mm Hg; P <0.01) and total peripheral resistance (−10±1 versus −5±1 mm Hg/L per minute; P <0.01) during trimethaphan. Baseline muscle sympathetic nerve activity was associated with the decrease in mean arterial pressure during trimethaphan ( r =−0.74; P <0.05). In summary, our results suggest that autonomic support of blood pressure is greater in older women compared with young women and that elevated sympathetic nerve activity in older women contributes importantly to the increased incidence of hypertension after menopause.