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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 292/4/R1502    most recent 00273.2006v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Castiglioni, P. Articles by Merati, G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Castiglioni, P. Articles by Merati, G.

NEUROHUMORAL CONTROL OF CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTION

Mechanisms of blood pressure and heart rate variability: an insight from low-level paraplegia

¹Centro di Bioingegneria and ²Centro di Medicina dello Sport, Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Milan, Italy; ³Institute of Physical Exercise, Health and Sports, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; and ⁴Scientific Institute Ospedale San Luca, Istituto Auxologico Italiano and University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

Submitted 21 April 2006 ; accepted in final form 22 November 2006

It is still unclear whether the low-frequency oscillation in heart rate is generated by an endogenous neural oscillator or by a baroreflex resonance. Our aim was to investigate this issue by analyzing blood pressure and heart rate variability and the baroreflex function in paraplegic subjects with spinal cord injury below the fourth thoracic vertebra. These subjects were selected because they represent a model of intact central neural drive to the heart, with a partially impaired autonomic control of the vessels. In our study, arterial blood pressure and ECG were recorded in 33 able-bodied controls and in 33 subjects with spinal cord lesions between the fifth thoracic and the fourth lumbar vertebra 1) during supine rest (lowest sympathetic activation), 2) sitting on a wheelchair (light sympathetic activation), and 3) during exercise (moderate sympathetic activation). Blood pressure and heart rate spectra, coherence, and baroreflex function (sequence technique) were estimated in each condition. Compared with controls, paraplegic subjects showed a reduction of the low-frequency power of blood pressure and heart rate, and, unlike controls, a 0.1-Hz peak did not appear in their spectra. Sympathetic activation increased the 0.1-Hz peak of blood pressure and heart rate and the coherence at 0.1 Hz in controls only. Paraplegic subjects also had significantly lower baroreflex effectiveness and greater blood pressure variability. In conclusion, the disappearance of the 10-s oscillation of heart rate and blood pressure in subjects with spinal cord lesion supports the hypothesis of the baroreflex nature of this phenomenon.

baroreflex sensitivity; paraplegia; sympathetic activation