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Cold Airflow Applied to the Ear Decreases Heart Rate

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Abstract

Arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR) have not been continuously measured from the beginning of the caloric test. This study aimed to evaluate (1) the changes in AP and HR continuously during the test, and (2) the relationship between those changes and semicircular canal function. Airflow at 15 °C was applied to the left ear (Ear15) and the left tragus (Tragus15), and also airflow at 37 °C was applied to the left ear (Ear37) for 1 min per condition in healthy subjects. AP and HR were recorded and analyzed in time series. Additionally, cold airflow was applied to the right and left ears for 1 min in outpatient subjects experiencing vestibular dysfunction, and maximum changes in AP, HR, and slow phase velocity (SPV) of nystagmus were measured. HR immediately decreased during the Ear15 at the onset of the airflow, regardless AP change. Thus, the decrease in HR was not related to AP control. Neither AP nor HR changed during the Ear37 and Tragus15 stimulation. Thus, the decreases in HR were not induced by mechanical stimulation. The SPV significantly and positively correlated with changes in HR in outpatient subjects. Thus, patients with lower semicircular function showed a larger decrease in HR. Cold airflow applied to the ears immediately decreased HR, and the semicircular canals might be correcting the change.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff at the Osaka branch of Unique Medical for their technical assistance and encouragement. The authors thank Emma Longworth-Mills, PhD, from Edanz Group (https://en-author-services.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript. The authors thank professors Minai and Sei for their statistical advice. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18K06451.

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 18K06451.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health and Medicine, Gifu University of Medical Science, 795-1 Ichihiraga, Seki, Gifu, 501-3892, Japan

    Kunihiko Tanaka

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Nagoya City University, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho, Nagoya, Aichi, 467-8601, Japan

    Kayoko Kabaya, Shinichi Esaki, Meiho Nakayama & Shinichi Iwasaki

  3. Department of Radiological Technology, Gifu University of Medical Science, 795-1 Ichihiraga, Seki, Gifu, 501-3892, Japan

    Akihiro Sugiura

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  1. Kunihiko Tanaka
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  4. Shinichi Esaki
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Contributions

KT conceived and designed the experiments. KK, AS, SE, and MN collected the data. KT and KK interpreted the data. KT wrote the manuscript. KK and SI revised the manuscript critically. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kunihiko Tanaka.

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Ethics Approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of Gifu University of Medical Science for protocol 1 (30–7) and protocol 2 (2019–7), and Nagoya City University for protocol 2 (60–19-0100).

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Tanaka, K., Kabaya, K., Sugiura, A. et al. Cold Airflow Applied to the Ear Decreases Heart Rate. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 4, 131 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-022-01216-y

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