Haemodynamic and baroreflex responses to whole-body tilting in exercising men before and after 6 weeks of bedrest

Abstract

We sought to determine whether the cardiovascular deconditioning that occurs in exercising men after prolonged (42 days) bedrest in the head-down tilt (HDT) position is primarily related to mechanical changes in the heart or to an impaired arterial-cardiac-chronotropic baroreflex. Seven subjects were studied before (C, control) and repeatedly after HDT with rapid tilting between the upright and supine positions during steady-state 50-W dynamic leg exercise. Ventricular interdependence was assumed to be an index of cardiac size; it was assessed on the basis of the initial dip of arterial pulse pressure (PP) induced by a sudden tilt from the upright to the supine position (down-tilt). Arterial-cardiac-chronotropic baroreflex sensitivity (ABS) was assessed as the ratio between tilt-induced heart rate transients and the preceding (and reciprocal) transient in arterial pressure. On the first day of recovery, the initial PP dip was −4 (2) mmHg (where 1 mmHg is 0.13 kPa), less than half of the control value; on subsequent recovery days, the initial PP dip was not significantly different from the control value. When tilting from the upright to the supine position, mean ABS ranged from 1.02 to 1.06 bpm/mmHg during three separate control sessions. Tilts in the opposite direction gave lower ABS values because of the more sluggish HR response and ranged from 0.43 to 0.45 bpm/mmHg in the control situations. ABS did not change after HDT. Our results indicate that impairments of the cardiovascular system after long-term bedrest are of haemodynamic rather than baroreflex origin.