Postural effects on muscle nerve sympathetic activity in man

Abstract

1. Pulse‐synchronous bursts of multi‐unit sympathetic activity (MSA) were recorded in peroneal muscle nerve fascicles in eight healthy subjects when lying, sitting and standing. The sympathetic activity was quantitated by counting the number of bursts in the mean voltage neurogram/min. Postural changes were analysed by considering the total activity to be a product of the number of bursts in relation to the number of heart beats (burst incidence) and the heart rate. 2. In lying there were large interindividual differences in total activity, but for all subjects the activity increased when going from lying to sitting and from sitting to standing. With a few exceptions the increase between the lying and sitting postures was associated with an increase in both burst incidence and heart rate whereas between the sitting and standing postures there was an increase in heart rate but on the average no change in burst incidence. 3. When going from lying to sitting or from sitting to standing the magnitude of the change in burst incidence was inversely related to the initial burst incidence so that subjects with low initial values usually showed greater increases in burst incidence than subjects with high initial values. Some subjects with high initial values decreased their burst incidence. 4. With changes in postures there was an inverse linear relationship between the fraction of the change in MSA associated with a change in burst incidence and the fraction associated with a change in heart rate. An increase in total activity could be obtained by changing only burst incidence, by increasing heart rate without changing burst incidence, or by appropriate changes in both parameters. The slope of the regression line was ‐0·53 indicating that for adequate postural compensation fewer additional bursts were required when the compensatory response involved an increase in heart rate rather than an increase in only burst incidence. 5. It is suggested that an impairment of the ability to regulate heart rate will make subjects with high burst incidence in the lying position orthostatically more vulnerable than those with low burst incidence. 6. Shortly after standing up one subject developed bradycardia and subsequently fainted. The nerve recording was maintained until the subject collapsed. During the initial bradycardia no sympathetic bursts occurred suggesting that the syncope was associated with an interruption of normal baroreflex feedback between blood pressure and sympathetic outflow.