Lower vascular conductance responses to handgrip exercise are improved following acute antioxidant supplementation in young individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder
Date
2024-05-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Experimental Physiology
Abstract
Young individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) display peripheral vascular and autonomic nervous system dysfunction, two factors potentially stemming from a redox imbalance. It is currently unclear if these aforementioned factors, observed at rest, alter peripheral haemodynamic responses to exercise in this population. This study examined haemodynamic responses to handgrip exercise in young individuals with PTSD following acute antioxidant (AO) supplementation. Thirteen young individuals with PTSD (age 23 ± 3 years), and 13 age- and sex-matched controls (CTRL) participated in the study. Exercise-induced changes to arm blood flow (BF), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and vascular conductance (VC) were evaluated across two workloads of rhythmic handgrip exercise (3 and 6 kg). The PTSD group participated in two visits, consuming either a placebo (PL) or AO prior to their visits. The PTSD group demonstrated significantly lower VC (P = 0.04) across all exercise workloads (vs. CTRL), which was significantly improved following AO supplementation. In the PTSD group, AO supplementation improved VC in participants possessing the lowest VC responses to handgrip exercise, with AO supplementation significantly improving VC responses (3 and 6 kg: P < 0.01) by blunting elevated exercise-induced MAP responses (3 kg: P = 0.01; 6 kg: P < 0.01). Lower VC responses during handgrip exercise were improved following AO supplementation in young individuals with PTSD. AO supplementation was associated with a blunting of exercise-induced MAP responses in individuals with PTSD displaying elevated MAP responses. This study revealed that young individuals with PTSD exhibit abnormal, peripherally mediated exercise responses that may be linked to a redox imbalance.
Highlights
- What is the central question of this study?
Do young individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) display abnormal peripheral haemodynamic responses during exercise?
- What is the main finding and its importance?
Young individuals with PTSD displayed lower vascular conductance (VC) during handgrip exercise compared to healthy counterparts. Antioxidant supplementation notably improved VC responses, especially in the subset of PTSD participants with the highest pressor responses during exercise. This study underscores abnormal peripherally mediated exercise responses in young individuals with PTSD, suggesting a potential link to a redox imbalance.
Description
This article was originally published in Experimental Physiology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091762. © 2024 The Authors. Experimental Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords
antioxidant, autonomic nervous system, mental health, vascular function
Citation
Weggen, J. B., Darling, A. M., Autler, A. S., Hogwood, A. C., Decker, K. P., Richardson, J., Tuzzolo, G., & Garten, R. S. (2024). Lower vascular conductance responses to handgrip exercise are improved following acute antioxidant supplementation in young individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder. Experimental Physiology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1113/EP091762