CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 144Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic DisordersHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlCardiovascular and exercise physiology

Menstrual cycle effects on sympathetic neural responses to upright tilt

Open access
Fu, Qi, Okazaki, Kazunobu, Shibata, Shigeki, Shook, Robin P., VanGunday, Tiffany B., Galbreath, M. Melyn, Reelick, Miriam F., Levine, Benjamin D.·2009·The Journal of Physiology
DOI 10.1113/jphysiol.2008.168468PMC PMC2689340
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Young women are more susceptible to orthostatic intolerance than men, though the sex‐specific pathophysiology remains unknown. As blood pressure (BP) is regulated through the baroreflex mechanism, we tested the hypothesis that baroreflex control of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) during orthostasis is impaired in women and can be affected by the menstrual cycle. MSNA and haemodynamics were measured supine and during a graded upright tilt (30 deg for 6 min, 60 deg for 45 min or till presyncope) in 11 young men and 11 women during the early follicular (EFP) and mid‐luteal phase (MLP) of the menstrual cycle. Sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity was quantified using the slope of the linear correlation between total activity and diastolic BP during spontaneous breathing. Baroreflex function was further assessed during a Valsalva manoeuvre (VM). Although MSNA burst frequency responses during tilting were similar between sexes and menstrual phases, increases in total activity were lower in women during EFP than MLP ( P = 0.030), while total peripheral resistance and plasma noradrenaline were not similarly lower; upright total activity tended to be lower in women during EFP than men ( P = 0.102). Sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity did not differ between sexes ( P = 0.676) supine (−281 ± 46 ( s.e.m. ) units beat −1 mmHg −1 in men vs −252 ± 52 in EFP and −272 ± 40 in MLP in women), at 30 deg tilt (−648 ± 129 vs −611 ± 79 and −487 ± 94), and at 60 deg tilt (−792 ± 135 vs −831 ± 92 and −814 ± 142); this sensitivity was not affected by the menstrual cycle ( P = 0.747). Similar sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity between sexes and phases was also observed during the VM. Cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity assessed during decreasing BP (i.e. early phase II of the VM) was comparable between sexes, but it was greater in men than women during increasing BP (i.e. phase IV); the menstrual cycle had no influences on cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity. We conclude that the menstrual cycle affects sympathetic neural responses but not sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity during orthostasis, though upright vasomotor sympathetic activity is not clearly different between men and women. Not only sympathetic but also cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity is similar between sexes and menstrual phases during a hypotensive stimulus. However, cardiovagal baroreflex‐mediated bradycardia during a hypertensive stimulus is different between sexes but not affected by the menstrual cycle. Thus, other factors rather than sympathetic baroreflex control mechanisms contribute to sex differences in orthostatic tolerance in young humans.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1113/jphysiol.2008.168468

Cites

52 of 52 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • There is a tight relationship between stroke volume and HR in men, healthy women, and women with POTS.

    “Figure 2B shows the tight relationship between stroke volume and HR in men, healthy women, and women with POTS (4,12).”

    From Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (2019) · cites this paper as [12]

    The ‘Responses during upright tilt’ section reports that heart rate increased while stroke volume decreased in healthy men and women. It does not establish a tight stroke-volume–heart-rate relationship, and the ‘Study limitations’ section says all subjects were healthy, so the claim about women with POTS is not supported by this paper. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Healthy women have smaller stroke volumes and higher HRs compared with healthy men, whereas women with POTS have both an exaggerated fall in stroke volume and an apparent compensatory rise in HR.

    “healthy women have smaller stroke volumes and higher HRs compared with healthy men, whereas women with POTS have both an exaggerated fall in stroke volume and an apparent compensatory rise in HR.”

    From Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (2019) · cites this paper as [12]

    The Responses during upright tilt section reports lower stroke volumes in healthy women than men, while heart rates only tended to be higher. The Study limitations section says all participants were healthy; the paper does not support the claim about an exaggerated stroke-volume fall or compensatory heart-rate rise in women with POTS. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The order of testing was randomized or counterbalanced for each study.

    “The order of testing was randomized5,8,12 or counterbalanced4,9 for each study.”

    From Ovarian Cycle and Sympathoexcitation in Premenopausal Women (2013) · cites this paper as [9]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Fu, Q., Okazaki, K., Shibata, S., Shook, R. P., VanGunday, T. B., Galbreath, M. M., Reelick, M. F., & Levine, B. D.
Affiliations
Texas Health Dallas (US)
Corresponding author
Fu, Qi
ORCID
Venue
The Journal of Physiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2009-04-29
Volume
587
Issue
9
Pages
2019-2031
ISSN
  • 0022-3751 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7793
DOI
10.1113/jphysiol.2008.168468
PMC
PMC2689340
OpenAlex
W2108684279
Semantic Scholar
91c3033422f1eaa0b197c89342fa19ae3958c95b
Cited by
144
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 13
FWCI
13.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • The Journal of Physiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K23HL075283)
  • National Center for Research Resources (RR 00633, M01RR000633)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
Keywords
menstrual cycle, orthostatic intolerance, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, baroreflex sensitivity, upright tilt, sex differences, Valsalva maneuver, hemodynamics, plasma norepinephrine, systemic vascular resistance, presyncope, young women, autonomic nervous system, blood pressure regulation, luteal phase, follicular phase, orthostatic hypotension
MeSH terms
Adult, Blood Pressure, Female, Humans, Menstrual Cycle, Posture, Sympathetic Nervous System, Baroreflex, Tilt-Table Test

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review