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330 records · Page 19

Cerebral vasoconstriction precedes orthostatic intolerance after parabolic flight

The effects of brief but repeated bouts of micro- and hypergravity on cerebrovascular responses to head-up tilt (HUT) were examined in 13 individuals after (compared to before) parabolic flight. Middle cerebral artery mean flow velocity (MCA MFV; transcranial Doppler ultrasound), eye level blood pressure (BP) and end tidal CO(2) (P(ET)CO(2)) were measured while supine and during 80 degrees HUT for 30 min or until presyncope. In the postflight tests subjects were classified as being orthostatically tolerant (OT) (n = 7) or intolerant (OI) (n = 6). BP was diminished with HUT in the OT group in both tests (p < 0.05) whereas postflight BP was not different from supine in the OI group. Postflight compared to preflight, the reduction in P(ET)CO(2) with HUT (p < 0.05) increased in both groups, although significantly so only in the OI group (p < 0.05). The OI group also had a significant decrease in supine MCA MFV postflight (p < 0.05) that was unaccompanied by a change in supine P(ET)CO(2). The decrease in MCA MFV that occurred during HUT in both groups preflight (p < 0.05) was accentuated only in the OI group postflight, particularly during the final 30 s of HUT (p < 0.05). However, this accentuated decrease in MCA MFV was not correlated to the greater decrease in P(ET)CO(2) during the same period (R = 0.20, p = 0.42). Although cerebral vascular resistance (CVR) also increased in the OI group during the last 30 s of HUT postflight (p < 0.05), the dynamic autoregulatory gain was not simultaneously changed. Therefore, we conclude that in the OI individuals, parabolic flight was associated with cerebral hypoperfusion following a paradoxical augmentation of CVR by a mechanism that was not related to changes in autoregulation nor strictly to changes in P(ET)CO(2).

Parabolic Flight↗

A Mathematical Model of Oxygen Transport in Skeletal Muscle During Hindlimb Unloading

During hindlimb unloading (HU) dramatic fluid shifts occur within minutes of the suspension, leading to a less precise matching of blood flow to O2 demands of skeletal muscle. Vascular resistance directs blood away from certain muscles, such as the soleus (SOL). The muscle volume gradually reduces in these muscles so that eventually the relative blood flow returns to normal. It is generally believed that muscle volume change is not due to O2 depletion, but a consequence of disuse. However, the volume of the unloaded rat muscle declines over the course of weeks, whereas the redistribution of blood flow occurs immediately. Using a Krogh Cylinder Model, the distribution of O2 was predicted in two skeletal muscles: SOL and gastrocnemius (GAS). Effects of the muscle blood flow, volume, capillary density, and O2 uptake, are included to calculate the pO2 at rest and after 10 min and 15 days of unloading. The model predicts that 32 percent of the SOL muscle tissue has a pO2 1.25 mm Hg within 10 min, whereas the GAS maintains normal O2 levels, and that equilibrium is reached only as the SOL muscle cells degenerate. The results provide evidence that there is an inadequate O2 supply to the mitochondria in the SOL muscle after 10 min HU.

Mathematical models↗