Cerebral haemodynamic responses to inspiratory muscle work
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota USA
- 2Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota USA
- 3Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud University Nijmegen The Netherlands
- 4Department of Kinesiology Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA
- 5Department of Health and Kinesiology University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USA
Abstract
Fatiguing inspiratory work has been shown to evoke a sympathetically mediated reflex that has systemic cardiovascular consequences, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure and a decrease in resting limb vascular conductance. Moreover, the response to this reflex appears to be attenuated in females compared with males. It remains to be seen whether this respiratory muscle metaboreflex also exerts an effect on cerebral blood flow. Cerebral blood flow is tightly regulated to maintain homeostasis and critical function. Therefore, it stands to reason that cerebrovascular haemodynamics would not be compromised through this respiratory muscle metaboreflex. We hypothesized that fatiguing inspiratory work would reduce resting limb conductance, but cerebral blood flow would be minimally impaired. Females (34 ± 10 years old, n = 12) and males (31 ± 8 years old, n = 12) performed a 5 min, high‐intensity bout of inspiratory pressure threshold loading (IPTL) designed to evoke the respiratory muscle metaboreflex. In response to IPTL, mean arterial pressure increased in both males and females (p < 0.001), and limb vascular conductance decreased to a greater degree in males than in females (p = 0.005). The cerebrovascular conductance index was higher in females (p = 0.007) but not affected by IPTL (p = 0.417). Our findings suggest that cerebral blood flow is spared from the redistribution of blood flow in response to fatiguing inspiratory work and that this protection is true in both males and females.
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BibTeX
@article{ramsook2026cerebral,
title = {{Cerebral haemodynamic responses to inspiratory muscle work}},
author = {Andrew H. Ramsook and Morgan A. Hughes and Wyatt W. Pruter and Kevin L. Webb and Ali Ataie and Chad C. Wiggins and Gabrielle A. Dillon and Sarah E. Baker and Michael J. Joyner},
journal = {Experimental Physiology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1113/ep092840},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1113/ep092840},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cerebral haemodynamic responses to inspiratory muscle work
AU - Andrew H. Ramsook
AU - Morgan A. Hughes
AU - Wyatt W. Pruter
AU - Kevin L. Webb
AU - Ali Ataie
AU - Chad C. Wiggins
AU - Gabrielle A. Dillon
AU - Sarah E. Baker
AU - Michael J. Joyner
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Experimental Physiology
DO - 10.1113/ep092840
UR - https://doi.org/10.1113/ep092840
AB - Fatiguing inspiratory work has been shown to evoke a sympathetically mediated reflex that has systemic cardiovascular consequences, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure and a decrease in resting limb vascular conductance. Moreover, the response to this reflex appears to be attenuated in females compared with males. It remains to be seen whether this respiratory muscle metaboreflex also exerts an effect on cerebral blood flow. Cerebral blood flow is tightly regulated to maintain homeostasis and critical function. Therefore, it stands to reason that cerebrovascular haemodynamics would not be compromised through this respiratory muscle metaboreflex. We hypothesized that fatiguing inspiratory work would reduce resting limb conductance, but cerebral blood flow would be minimally impaired. Females (34 ± 10 years old, n = 12) and males (31 ± 8 years old, n = 12) performed a 5 min, high‐intensity bout of inspiratory pressure threshold loading (IPTL) designed to evoke the respiratory muscle metaboreflex. In response to IPTL, mean arterial pressure increased in both males and females (p < 0.001), and limb vascular conductance decreased to a greater degree in males than in females (p = 0.005). The cerebrovascular conductance index was higher in females (p = 0.007) but not affected by IPTL (p = 0.417). Our findings suggest that cerebral blood flow is spared from the redistribution of blood flow in response to fatiguing inspiratory work and that this protection is true in both males and females.
SN - 1469-445X
SN - 0958-0670
ER -