Respiratory muscle blood flow during exercise: Effects of sex and ovarian cycle

Sex and ovarian cycle have been speculated to modify respiratory muscle blood flow control during exercise, but the findings are inconclusive. We tested the hypotheses that females would have higher respiratory muscle blood flow and vascular conductance (VC) compared with males during exercise and that this difference would be accentuated in proestrus vs. ovariectomized (OVA) females. Mean arterial pressure (carotid artery catheter) and respiratory muscle blood flow (radiolabeled microspheres) were measured during moderate-intensity (24 m/min, 10% grade) exercise in male (n = 9), female (n = 9), and OVA female (n = 7) rats and near-maximal (60 m/min, 5% grade) exercise in male (n = 5) and female (n = 7) rats. At rest, diaphragm, intercostal, and transversus abdominis blood flow were not different (P = 0.33) among groups. During moderate-intensity exercise, diaphragm (M: 124 ± 16; F: 140 ± 14; OVA: 140 ± 20 ml·min–1·100 g–1), intercostal (M: 33 ± 5; F: 34 ± 5; OVA: 30 ± 5 ml·min–1·100 g–1), and transversus abdominis blood flow (M: 24 ± 4; F: 35 ± 7; OVA: 35 ± 9 ml·min–1·100 g–1) significantly increased in all groups compared with rest but were not different (P = 0.12) among groups. From rest to moderate-intensity exercise, diaphragm (P < 0.03) and transversus abdominis (P < 0.04) VC increased in all groups, whereas intercostal VC in...
Source: Journal of Applied Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research