| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
1 Baker Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria 8008, Australia; and 2 Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309
Investigating aging effects on the sympathetic nervous system and ascertaining underlying central nervous system (CNS) mechanisms mediating sympathetic stimulation is clinically pertinent because of the possible interconnection of cardiovascular disease development with age-dependent sympathetic nervous changes. Because of previous evidence linking human CNS neuronal noradrenergic function and sympathetic activity, we investigated the influence of aging on brain norepinephrine turnover in 22 healthy men aged 20-30 yr and 16 healthy men aged 60-75 yr by measuring the internal jugular venous overflow of norepinephrine and its lipophilic metabolites. Sympathoneural and adrenal medullary function was also studied, using plasma catecholamine isotope dilution methodology and regional central venous sampling. In the older men there was increased norepinephrine turnover in suprabulbar subcortical brain regions, 317 ± 50 ng/min compared with 107 ± 18 ng/min in younger men. A differentiated sympathetic nervous activation was also present in older men. Overall, levels of both cardiac and hepatomesenteric norepinephrine spillover were directly correlated with subcortical norepinephrine turnover. These findings suggest that in sympathetic nervous activation accompanying aging, as has previously been demonstrated with the sympathetic nervous stimulation in human hypertension and heart failure, there is an underlying sympathoexcitatory influence of noradrenergic projections to suprabulbar subcortical regions.
epinephrine; heart; kidneys; adrenal medulla
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. H. Pennestri, J. Montplaisir, R. Colombo, G. Lavigne, and P. A. Lanfranchi Nocturnal blood pressure changes in patients with restless legs syndrome Neurology, April 10, 2007; 68(15): 1213 - 1218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. J. Nelson and G. A. Iwamoto Reversibility of exercise-induced dendritic attenuation in brain cardiorespiratory and locomotor areas following exercise detraining J Appl Physiol, October 1, 2006; 101(4): 1243 - 1251. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. F. Mayer, C. Schroeder, K. Heusser, J. Tank, A. Diedrich, R. E. Schmieder, F. C. Luft, and J. Jordan Influences of Norepinephrine Transporter Function on the Distribution of Sympathetic Activity in Humans Hypertension, July 1, 2006; 48(1): 120 - 126. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. A. Gould, M. Yii, M. D. Esler, J. M. Power, and D. M. Kaye Atrial fibrillation impairs cardiac sympathetic response to baroreceptor unloading in congestive heart failure Eur. Heart J., December 1, 2005; 26(23): 2562 - 2567. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. R. Seals and F. A. Dinenno Collateral damage: cardiovascular consequences of chronic sympathetic activation with human aging Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, November 1, 2004; 287(5): H1895 - H1905. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. A. Koomans, P. J. Blankestijn, and J. A. Joles Sympathetic Hyperactivity in Chronic Renal Failure: A Wake-up Call J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., March 1, 2004; 15(3): 524 - 537. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. R. Seals and C. Bell Chronic Sympathetic Activation: Consequence and Cause of Age-Associated Obesity? Diabetes, February 1, 2004; 53(2): 276 - 284. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |
