Interactive effect of hypoxia and otolith organ engagement on cardiovascular regulation in humans
We determined the interaction between the vestibulosympathetic reflex and the arterial chemoreflex in 12 healthy subjects. Subjects performed three trials in which continuous recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and arterial oxygen saturation were obtained. First, in prone subjects the otolith organs were engaged by use of head-down rotation (HDR). Second, the arterial chemoreflex was activated by inspiration of hypoxic gas (10% O2 and 90% N2) for 7 min with HDR being performed during minute 6. Third, hypoxia was repeated (15 min) with HDR being performed during minute 14. HDR [means ± SE; increase (Δ)7 ± 1 bursts/min and Δ50 ± 11% for burst frequency and total MSNA, respectively; P < 0.05] and hypoxia (Δ6 ± 2 bursts/min and Δ62 ± 29%; P < 0.05) increased MSNA. Additionally, MSNA increased when HDR was performed during hypoxia (Δ11 ± 2 bursts/min and Δ127 ± 57% change from normoxia; P < 0.05). These increases in MSNA were similar to the algebraic sum of the individual increase in MSNA elicited by HDR and hypoxia (Δ13 ± 1 bursts/min and Δ115 ± 36%). Increases in MAP (Δ3 ± 1 mmHg) and HR (Δ19 ± 1 beats/min) during combined HDR and hypoxia generally were smaller ( P < 0.05) than the algebraic sum of the individual responses (Δ5 ± 1 mmHg and Δ24 ± 2 beats/min for MAP and HR, respectively; P < 0.05). These findings indicate an additive interaction between the vestibulosympathetic reflex and arterial chemoreflex for MSNA. Therefore, it appears that MSNA outputs between the vestibulosympathetic reflex and arterial chemoreflex are independent of one another in humans.