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Cited by 190Spaceflight effects on biologyCardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic DisordersCardiovascular and exercise physiology

Cardiac atrophy in women following bed rest

Dorfman, Todd A., Levine, Benjamin D., Tillery, Tommy, Peshock, Ronald M., Hastings, Jeff L., Schneider, Suzanne M., Macias, Brandon R., Biolo, Gianni +1 more·2007·Journal of Applied Physiology
DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.01162.2006
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Abstract

Both chronic microgravity exposure and long-duration bed rest induce cardiac atrophy, which leads to reduced standing stroke volume and orthostatic intolerance. However, despite the fact that women appear to be more susceptible to postspaceflight presyncope and orthostatic hypotension than male astronauts, most previous high-resolution studies of cardiac morphology following microgravity have been performed only in men. Because female athletes have less physiological hypertrophy than male athletes, we reasoned that they also might have altered physiological cardiac atrophy after bed rest. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 24 healthy young women (32.1 ± 4 yr) to measure left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) mass, volumes, and morphology accurately before and after 60 days of 6° head-down tilt (HDT) bed rest. Subjects were matched and then randomly assigned to sedentary bed rest (controls, n = 8) or two treatment groups consisting of 1) exercise training using supine treadmill running within lower body negative pressure plus resistive training ( n = 8), or 2) protein (0.45 g·kg−1·day−1 increase) plus branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) (7.2 g/day) supplementation ( n = 8). After sedentary bed rest without nutritional supplementation, there were significant reductions in LV (96 ± 26 to 77 ± 25 ml; P = 0.03) and RV volumes (104 ± 33 to 86 ± 25 ml; P = 0.02), LV (2.2 ± 0.2 to 2.0 ± 0.2 g/kg; P = 0.003) and RV masses (0.8 ± 0.1 to 0.6 ± 0.1 g/kg; P < 0.001), and the length of the major axis of the LV (90 ± 6 to 84 ± 7 mm. P < 0.001), similar to what has been observed previously in men (8.0%; Perhonen MA, Franco F, Lane LD, Buckey JC, Blomqvist Zerwekh JE, Peshock RM, Weatherall PT, Levine BD. J Appl Physiol 91: 645–653, 2001). In contrast, there were no significant reductions in LV or RV volumes in the exercise-trained group, and the length of the major axis was preserved. Moreover, there were significant increases in LV (1.9 ± 0.4 to 2.3 ± 0.3 g/kg; P < 0.001) and RV masses (0.7 ± 0.1 to 0.8 ± 0.2 g/kg; P = 0.002), as well as mean wall thickness (9 ± 2 to 11 ± 1 mm; P = 0.02). The interaction between sedentary and exercise LV and RV masses was highly significant ( P < 0.0001). Protein and BCAA supplementation led to an intermediate phenotype with no change in LV or RV mass after bed rest, but there remained a significant reduction in LV volume (103 ± 14 to 80 ± 16 ml; P = 0.02) and major-axis length (91 ± 5 to 88 ± 7 mm; P = 0.003). All subjects lost an equivalent amount of body mass (3.4 ± 0.2 kg control; 3.1 ± 0.04 kg exercise; 2.8 ± 0.1 kg protein). Cardiac atrophy occurs in women similar to men following sedentary 60 days HDT bed rest. However, exercise training and, to a lesser extent, protein supplementation may be potential countermeasures to the cardiac atrophy associated with chronic unloading conditions such as in spaceflight and prolonged bed rest.

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  • Exercise training has been demonstrated to expand blood volume and increase cardiac size and mass in POTS patients and result in a prominent decrease in symptoms.

    “the positive response these patients have to exercise training, which has been demonstrated to expand blood volume and increase cardiac size and mass in POTS patients and result in a prominent decrease in symptoms (4,63,64).”

    From Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (2019) · cites this paper as [63]

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Authors
Dorfman, T. A., Levine, B. D., Tillery, T., Peshock, R. M., Hastings, J. L., Schneider, S. M., Macias, B. R., Biolo, G., & Hargens, A. R.
Affiliations
  • Texas Health Dallas (US)
  • The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
  • University of New Mexico (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
  • University of Trieste (IT)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Applied Physiology
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Published
2007-07
Volume
103
Issue
1
Pages
8-16
ISSN
  • 0161-7567 (ISSN-L)
  • 8750-7587
  • 1522-1601
DOI
10.1152/japplphysiol.01162.2006
OpenAlex
W2105479159
Cited by
189
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 10
FWCI
8.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Applied Physiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ArTS Archivio della ricerca di Trieste (University of Trieste https://www.units.it/) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • National Space Biomedical Research Institute
  • European Space Agency
  • Canadian Space Agency
  • National Cancer Institute (CA00701)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Spaceflight effects on biology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
Keywords
cardiac atrophy, bed rest, microgravity, women, left ventricular mass, right ventricular mass, head-down tilt, exercise training, lower body negative pressure, resistance training, protein supplementation, branched-chain amino acids, cardiac morphology, orthostatic intolerance, stroke volume, cardiac hypertrophy, sex differences, spaceflight adaptation, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, left ventricular ejection fraction
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Amino Acids, Branched-Chain, Atrophy, Bed Rest, Body Weight, Dietary Proteins, Europe, Exercise Therapy, Female, Heart Ventricles, Humans, Lower Body Negative Pressure, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cardiomyopathies, North America, Research Design, Space Flight, Stroke Volume, Syncope, Time Factors, Weightlessness, Treatment Outcome, Head-Down Tilt, Dietary Supplements

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