The influence of absolute strength on metaboreflex activation

Premenopausal women typically have lower blood pressure responses to static exercise compared to age matched men despite similar relative exercise intensity. Some research attributes this difference to an innate effect of biological sex due to differences in metabolism and sympathetic transduction, but work from our lab shows that matching for muscle strength abolishes within and between sex differences in blood pressure responses. This might be due to a matching of the muscle metaboreflex between men and women with similar strength, a pathway occurring during exercise which increases blood pressure from accumulation of metabolites. We propose to study the influence of the metaboreflex in mediating strength based differences in exercising blood pressure responses by measuring blood pressure during static leg exercise with and without partial vascular occlusion to increase metaboreflex activity, and to compare the responses between men and women. We hypothesize that increasing metaboreflex activation in women will match the blood pressure responses to that of men, and that in strength matched men and women increased metaborefelx activation will result in similar increases in blood pressure during exercise.

Faculty Supervisor:

Philip Millar

Student:

Partner:

Nagoya University

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Guelph

Program: