Funding Status:
Completed - Task completed and produced a deliverable
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Procurement Mechanism(s):
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Aims:
1) Determine how differences in strategies of arterial pressure control in men and women affect orthostatic tolerance both before and after bed rest.
2) Endothelium-dependent, endothelium-independent and adrenergic receptor responses in both arteries and veins will be evaluated, before and after bed rest.
3) Plasma volumes, and hemodynamic and neuroendocrine responses to arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreceptor inputs will be measured, in women versus men, before and after bed rest.
Thirty-one (21 men, 11 women) subjects were studied during the course of this project. The purpose of this project was to examine the differences in the methods of blood pressure regulation in men and women, specifically the differences in the ways arteries, veins, and the heart work to control blood pressure. Furthermore, this study was conducted during 60 – 90 days of head down tilt bed rest, an analog for the cardiovascular deconditioning that occurs in astronauts during actual spaceflight, so differences between upper and lower body changes to bed rest were of significance.