Long-term exercise confers equivalent neuroprotection in females despite lower cardiorespiratory fitness

Publication date: Available online 19 December 2019Source: NeuroscienceAuthor(s): Christopher J. Marley, Julien V. Brugniaux, Danielle Davis, Thomas A. Calverley, Thomas S. Owens, Benjamin S. Stacey, Hayato Tsukamoto, Shigehiko Ogoh, Phillip N. Ainslie, Damian M. BaileyAbstractFemales are more prone to cognitive decline, stroke and neurodegenerative disease, possibly due to more marked reductions in cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity to CO2 (CVRCO2HYPER) in later life. To what extent regular exercise confers selective neuroprotection in females remains unestablished. To examine this, 73 adults were prospectively assigned to 1 of 4 groups based on sex (male, ♂ vs. female, ♀) and physical activity status (trained, ≥ 150 minutes of moderate-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise/week; n = 18♂ vs. 18♀ vs. untrained, no formal exercise; n = 18♂ vs. 19♀). Middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv, transcranial Doppler ultrasound), mean arterial pressure (MAP, finger photoplethysmography) and end-tidal CO2 (capnography) were assessed at rest during normocapnea and hypercapnea (5% CO2) enabling CVRCO2HYPER to be assessed. Cerebrovascular resistance/conductance indices (CVRi/CVCi) were calculated as MAP/MCAv and MCAv/MAP. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2MAX) was determined during incremental semi-recumbent cycling ergometry to volitional exhaustion. Despite having a lower VO2MAX, females were characterized by selective elevations in MCAv, CVRCO2HYPER and lower CVRi (P...
Source: Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research