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Blood pressure regulation IV: adaptive responses to weightlessness

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Abstract

During weightlessness, blood and fluids are immediately shifted from the lower to the upper body segments, and within the initial 2 weeks of spaceflight, brachial diastolic arterial pressure is reduced by 5 mmHg and even more so by some 10 mmHg from the first to the sixth month of flight. Blood pressure thus adapts in space to a level very similar to that of being supine on the ground. At the same time, stroke volume and cardiac output are increased and systemic vascular resistance decreased, whereas sympathetic nerve activity is kept surprisingly high and similar to when ground-based upright seated. This was not predicted from simulation models and indicates that dilatation of the arteriolar resistance vessels is caused by mechanisms other than a baroreflex-induced decrease in sympathetic nervous activity. Results of baroreflex studies in space indicate that compared to being ground-based supine, the carotid (vagal)-cardiac interaction is reduced and sympathetic nerve activity, heart rate and systemic vascular resistance response more pronounced during baroreflex inhibition by lower body negative pressure. The future challenge is to identify which spaceflight mechanism induces peripheral arteriolar dilatation, which could explain the decrease in blood pressure, the high sympathetic nerve activity and associated cardiovascular changes. It is also a challenge to determine the cardiovascular risk profile of astronauts during future long-duration deep space missions.

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Abbreviations

BP:

Blood pressure

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Acknowledgments

This review would not have been possible, were it not for the support of Ali Asmar, Niels Juel Christensen and Niels-Henrik Holstein Rathlou (University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark) and Neal Pellis (Division of Space Life Sciences, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX, USA) and David Baumann (Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA-Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA).

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  1. Division of Space Life Sciences, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Houston, USA

    Peter Norsk

  2. Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Mail code: SK, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX, 77058, USA

    Peter Norsk

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Communicated by Nigel A.S. Taylor.

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Norsk, P. Blood pressure regulation IV: adaptive responses to weightlessness. Eur J Appl Physiol 114, 481–497 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2797-2

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