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Acute effect of coffee drinking on dynamic cerebral autoregulation

European Journal of Applied Physiology volume 116, pages 879–884 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

Drinking coffee causes caffeine-induced physiological alterations such as increases in arterial blood pressure, sympathetic nerve activity, cerebral vasoconstriction, etc., and these physiological alterations may be associated with a reduced risk of cerebral vascular disease. However, the effect of coffee drinking on dynamic cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation remains unclear. The aim of this study was to test our hypothesis that coffee drinking enhances dynamic cerebral autoregulation.

Method

Twelve healthy young subjects participated in the present study. After a 5 min baseline measurement in a semi-recumbent position on the hospital bed, each subject drank water (CON) as a placebo condition or coffee beverage (Coffee INT). Arterial blood pressure and middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCAv) were measured continuously throughout the experiment. At 30 min after the intake of either water or coffee, dynamic cerebral autoregulation was examined using a thigh cuffs occlusion and release technique. Each condition was randomly performed on a different day.

Result

Under Coffee INT condition, mean arterial blood pressure was increased (P = 0.01) and mean MCAv was decreased (P = 0.01) from the baseline. The rate of regulation (RoR), as an index of dynamic cerebral autoregulation, during coffee condition was significantly higher than that during CON (P = 0.0009).

Conclusion

The findings of the present study suggest that coffee drinking augments dynamic CBF regulation with cerebral vasoconstriction. This phenomenon may be associated with a reduction in the risk of cerebral vascular disease.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

ABP:

Arterial blood pressure

CA:

Cerebral autoregulation

CBF:

Cerebral blood flow

CVCi:

Cerebral vascular conductance index

HR:

Heart rate

MAP:

Mean arterial pressure

MCAv:

Middle cerebral artery blood velocity

PETCO2 :

End-tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide

RoR:

Rate of regulation

T:

Time

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the commitment of the subjects and the support of English writing from Mr. Michael Schulman (Toyo University). Technical support was provided by Mr. Shinnosuke Ono (Toyo University). This study was supported, in part, by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Grant number 24300237) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Toyo University, 2100 Kujirai, Kawagoe, Saitama, 350-8585, Japan

    Hiroyuki Sasaki, Takuro Washio & Shigehiko Ogoh

  2. Advanced Triage Team, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Ai Hirasawa

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  1. Hiroyuki Sasaki
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  2. Ai Hirasawa
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  3. Takuro Washio
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  4. Shigehiko Ogoh
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Correspondence to Shigehiko Ogoh.

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Communicated by Guido Ferretti.

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Sasaki, H., Hirasawa, A., Washio, T. et al. Acute effect of coffee drinking on dynamic cerebral autoregulation. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 879–884 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3345-7

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