The influence of the carotid baroreflex on dynamic regulation of cerebral blood flow and cerebral tissue oxygenation in humans at rest and during exercise

Purpose This preliminary study tested the hypothesis that the carotid baroreflex (CBR) mediated sympathoexcitation regulates cerebral blood flow (CBF) at rest and during dynamic exercise. Methods In seven healthy subjects (26 ± 1 years), oscillatory neck pressure (NP) stimuli of + 40 mmHg were applied to the carotid baroreceptors at a pre-determined frequency of 0.1 Hz at rest, low (10 ± 1W), and heavy (30 ± 3W) exercise workloads (WLs) without (control) and with α − 1 adrenoreceptor blockade (prazosin). Spectral power analysis of the mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), mean middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCAV), and cerebral tissue oxygenation index (ScO 2 ) in the low-frequency range (0.07–0.20 Hz) was estimated to examine NP stimuli responses. Results From rest to heavy exercise, WLs resulted in a greater than three-fold increase in MCAV power (42 ± 23.8–145.2 ± 78, p < 0.01) and an almost three-fold increase in ScO 2 power (0.51 ± 0.3–1.53 ± 0.8, p = 0.01), even though there were no changes in MAP power (from 24.5 ± 21 to 22.9 ± 11.9) with NP stimuli. With prazosin, the overall MAP ( p = 0.0017), MCAV ( p = 0.019), and ScO 2 ( p = 0.049) power was blunted regardless of the exercise conditions. Prazosin blockade resulted in increases in the Tf gain index between MAP and MCAV compared to the control ( p = 0.03). Conclusion CBR-mediated changes in sympathetic activity contribute to dynamic regulation of the cerebral vasculature and CBF at rest and during dynamic exercise in humans.