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1 Department of Medicine(Division of Cardiology), Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
2 Department of Medicine(Division of Cardiology), Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, General Clinical Research Center, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tew12{at}psu.edu.
Both heat stress and vestibular activation alter autonomic responses; however, the interaction of these two sympathetic activators is unknown. To determine the effect of heat stress on the vestibulosympathetic reflex, 8 subjects performed static head-down rotation (HDR) during normothermia and whole-body heating. MSNA (MSNA; peroneal microneurography), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and internal temperature were measured during the experimental trials. HDR during normothermia caused a significant increase in MSNA (
5±1 bursts/min;
53±14 arbitrary units/min), while no change was observed in MAP, HR, or internal temperature. Whole-body heating significantly increased internal temperature (
0.9±0.1 °C), MSNA (
10±3 bursts/min;
152±44 arbitrary units/min) and HR (
25±6 beats/min) but without altering MAP. HDR during whole-body heating increased MSNA (
16±4 bursts/min;
233±90 arbitrary units/min from normothermic baseline), which was not significantly different than the algebraic sum of HDR during normothermia and whole-body heating (
15±4 bursts/min;
205±55 arbitrary units/min). These data suggest that heat stress does not modify the vestibulosympathetic reflex and both the vestibulosympathetic and thermal reflexes are robust, independent sympathetic nervous system activators.
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J. R. Carter and C. A. Ray Sympathetic responses to vestibular activation in humans Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): R681 - R688. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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