Arterial and venous cerebral blood flow responses to long-term head-down bed rest in male volunteers.

Abstract

What is the central question of this study? A heterogeneous cerebral blood flow (CBF) response in the cerebral arteries has been demonstrated in several physiological conditions, and it might be attributable to different physiological properties. However, the whole cerebral haemodynamic response to weightlessness remains unknown. What is the main finding and its importance? Long-term head-down bed rest caused a heterogeneous CBF response between the anterior and posterior cerebral arteries and between the cerebral arteries and veins. Especially, in contrast to the anterior cerebral circulation, the posterior arterial and venous CBFs were well maintained throughout weightlessness. In this study, we investigated the whole cerebral haemodynamic response to long-term head-down bed rest (HDBR). We hypothesized that long-term exposure to weightlessness influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) or CBF distribution among cerebral arteries and veins because of the different physiological roles of each cerebral vessel. To test this hypothesis, 10 male volunteers were exposed to -6deg HDBR for 60days. Blood flows in the internal carotid artery, external carotid artery and vertebral artery or internal jugular vein and vertebral vein were measured using ultrasonography before and on days30 and 57 of the HDBR. The internal carotid artery blood flow was reduced on day30 (P=0.019) and had returned to the baseline level by day57. In contrast, the vertebral artery blood flow remained unaltered throughout the HDBR (P=0.626). The internal jugular vein blood flow was reduced on day30 (P=0.009), whereas the vertebral vein blood flow remained unaltered (P=0.397). These findings suggest that long-term HDBR causes a heterogeneous CBF response between the anterior and posterior cerebral circulation in the both arteries and veins. The posterior arterial and venous CBFs were well maintained throughout HDBR, and these CBF responses to HDBR were different from the anterior cerebral circulation.