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Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (May 21, 2008). doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00129.2008
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Submitted on February 22, 2008
Accepted on May 16, 2008

Temporal asymmetries of short-term heart period variability are linked to autonomic regulation

Alberto Porta1*, Karina R. Casali2, Adenauer G Casali3, Tomaso Gnecchi-Ruscone4, Eleonora Tobaldini3, Nicola Montano3, Silke Lange5, Daniel Geue5, Dirk Cysarz6, and Peter Van Leeuwen5

1 Dipartimento di Tecnologie per la Salute, Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
2 Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche, Medicina Interna II, Ospedale L. Sacco, Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche, Medicina Interna II, Ospedale L. Sacco, Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
4 Dipartimento di Cardiologia, Ospedale S.L. Mandic, Merate, Italy
5 Department of Biomagnetism, Gronemeyer Institute for Microtherapy, Bochum, Germany
6 Department of Medical Theory and Complementary Medicine, University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: alberto.porta{at}unimi.it.

We exploit time reversibility analysis, checking the invariance of statistical features of a series after time reversal, to detect temporal asymmetries of short-term heart period variability series. Reversibility indexes were extracted from 22 healthy fetuses between 16th to 40th week of gestation and from 17 healthy humans (aged 21 to 54, median=28) during graded head-up tilt with table inclination angles randomly selected inside the set {15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90}. Irreversibility analysis showed that non linear dynamics observed in short-term heart period variability are mostly due to asymmetric patterns characterized by bradycardic runs shorter than tachycardic ones. These temporal asymmetries were: i) more likely over short temporal scales than over longer, dominant ones; ii) more frequent during the late period of pregnancy (from 25th to 40th week of gestation), iii) significantly present in healthy humans at rest in supine position; iv) more numerous during 75 and 90 degrees head-up tilt. Results suggest that asymmetric patterns observable in short-term heart period variability might be the result of a fully developed autonomic regulation and that an important shift of the sympatho-vagal balance toward sympathetic predominance (and vagal withdrawal) can increase their presence.




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