Relationship between regional sympathetic vascular transduction and sympathetic transduction of blood pressure in young adults at rest

A burst of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) induces vasoconstriction that transiently reduces regional vascular conductance and increases systemic blood pressure (BP) over the subsequent 4-8 cardiac cycles. These responses are termed sympathetic neurovascular transduction and sympathetic transduction of BP, respectively. Sympathetic transduction of BP is commonly calculated and interpreted as a proxy measure for regional sympathetic neurovascular transduction despite the systemic nature of BP regulation. The present analysis tested whether the peak change in signal-averaged sympathetic transduction of BP was correlated to the change in regional sympathetic vascular transduction at rest. Fourteen adults (5 females, 23 ± 3 yr) arrived at the laboratory, ate a standardized meal, and rested for 90-120 min. MSNA (fibular nerve microneurography), heart rate (electrocardiography), beat-to-beat BP (finger photoplethysmography), and superficial femoral artery blood flow (Doppler ultrasound) were obtained continuously for 10 min in the supine position. Femoral vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated as blood flow divided by mean arterial BP. The peak change in diastolic BP following a burst of MSNA was correlated to the corresponding nadir change in femoral vascular conductance (<i>r</i> = -0.58 [-0.07 to -0.85], <i>P</i> = 0.03) and superficial femoral artery blood flow (<i>r</i> = -0.54 [-0.17 to -0.83], <i>P</i> = 0.04). The nadir change in diastolic BP in cardiac cycles not following an MSNA burst was correlated to the peak change in femoral vascular conductance (<i>r</i> = -0.42 [-0.83 to 0.00], <i>P</i> = 0.05), but not superficial femoral artery blood flow (<i>r</i> = 0.41 [-0.77 to 0.15], <i>P</i> = 0.14). In conclusion, more commonly assessed sympathetic transduction of BP provides moderate insight into regional sympathetic neurovascular transduction.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> The majority of studies have used signal-averaged sympathetic transduction of blood pressure as a generalized measure of transduction. In this analysis, we show that sympathetic transduction of blood pressure and regional sympathetic vascular transduction were moderately correlated in healthy adults at rest. The moderate strength of this relationship highlights potential differences between regional and systemic assessments of sympathetic transduction and suggests that future work should choose the transduction measure best aligned with the research question.