Affiliation:
1. Centre for Heart, Lung and Vascular Health, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
Little is known about the response of the cerebrovasculature to acute exercise in children and how these responses might differ with adults. Therefore, we compared changes in middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCAVmean), end-tidal Pco2 ([Formula: see text]), blood pressure, and minute ventilation (V̇e) in response to incremental exercise between children and adults. Thirteen children [age: 9 ± 1 (SD) yr] and thirteen sex-matched adults (age: 25 ± 4 yr) completed a maximal exercise test, during which MCAVmean, [Formula: see text], and V̇e were measured continuously. These variables were measured at rest, at exercise intensities specific to individual ventilatory thresholds, and at maximum. Although MCAVmean was higher at rest in children compared with adults, there were smaller increases in children (1–12%) compared with adults (12–25%) at all exercise intensities. There were alterations in [Formula: see text] with exercise intensity in an age-dependent manner [ F(2.5,54.5) = 7.983, P < 0.001; η2 = 0.266], remaining stable in children with increasing exercise intensity (37–39 mmHg; P > 0.05) until hyperventilation-induced reductions following the respiratory compensation point. In adults, [Formula: see text] increased with exercise intensity (36–45 mmHg, P < 0.05) until the ventilatory threshold. From the ventilatory threshold to maximum, adults showed a greater hyperventilation-induced hypocapnia than children. These findings show that the relative increase in MCAVmean during exercise was attenuated in children compared with adults. There was also a weaker relationship between MCAVmean and [Formula: see text] during exercise in children, suggesting that cerebral perfusion may be regulated by different mechanisms during exercise in the child. NEW & NOTEWORTHY These findings provide the first direct evidence that exercise increases cerebral blood flow in children to a lesser extent than in adults. Changes in end-tidal CO2 parallel changes in cerebral perfusion in adults but not in children, suggesting age-dependent regulatory mechanisms of cerebral blood flow during exercise.
Funder
Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Naturelles et en Génie du Canada)
Canada Research Chairs (Chaires de recherche du Canada)
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Subject
Physiology (medical),Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine,Physiology
Cited by
18 articles.
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