Abstract
Purpose
Heart rate variability (HRV) estimates the autonomic nervous system (ANS) influence on the heart and appears sex-specific. Sensory afferents exhibit sex-specificity; although, it is unknown if Capsaicin, an agonist for transient receptor potential vanilloid channel-1 (TRPV1), alters cardiac ANS activity in a sex-dependent manner, which could be important given the predictive nature of HRV on risk of developing hypertension. Thus, we explored if there was sex-specificity in the effect of capsaicin on estimated cardiac ANS activity.
Methods
HRV was measured in 38 young males (M: n = 25) and females (F: n = 13), in a blinded-crossover design, after acute ingestion of placebo or capsaicin. Resting HR, RR-interval, root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD), natural log-transformed RMSSD (LnRMSSD), standard deviation of n–n intervals (SDNN), number of pairs of successive n–n intervals differing by > 50 ms (NN50), and percent NN50 (PNN50) were obtained using standard techniques.
Results
Significant sex differences were observed in mean HR (M: 59 ± 9.3 vs. F: 65 ± 12 beats/min, p = 0.036, η2 = 0.098), minimum HR (M: 47 ± 8.3 vs. F: 56 ± 12 beats/min, p = 0.014, η2 = 0.124), and NN50 (M: 177 ± 143 vs. F: 29 ± 17, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.249). There was a significant interaction of sex*treatment (p = 0.02, η2 = 0.027) for RMSSD, where males increased (78 ± 55 vs. 91 ± 64 ms), and females decreased (105 ± 83 vs. 76 ± 43 ms), placebo vs. capsaicin.
Conclusion
This controlled study recapitulates sex differences in HR and HRV, but revealed a sexual dimorphism in the parasympathetic response to capsaicin, perhaps due to differing TRPV1-afferent sensitivity, highlighting a potential mechanism for differential regulation of hemodynamics, and CVD risk, and should be considered in future studies.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- ANS:
-
Autonomic Nervous System
- HR:
-
Heart Rate
- HRV:
-
Heart Rate Variability
- RMSSD:
-
Root-mean-square of successive differences
- LnRMSSD:
-
Natural log-transformed RMSSD
- SDNN:
-
Standard deviation of n–n intervals (SDNN)
- NN50:
-
Number of pairs of successive n–n intervals differing by > 50 ms
- pNN50:
-
Percent NN50
- TRPV1:
-
Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 1
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the participants, the Skidmore Faculty Summer Collaborative Research Program for supporting the students and modest support of the project, as well as the University of Verona for supporting the institutional collaboration.
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Zaleski, K.S., Gyampo, A.O., Lora, B. et al. Sex differences in estimates of cardiac autonomic function using heart rate variability: effects of dietary capsaicin. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 1041–1050 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05136-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05136-0