Use of the Frank-Starling mechanism during exercise is linked to exercise-induced changes in arterial load

摘要

Study population. The study population consisted of community dwelling volunteers with a broad age-range from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (46), who underwent multi-gated blood pool scans at rest and during exercise. All subjects in the current investigation had a resting LV ejection fraction (EF) greater than 50% without wall motion abnormalities at rest or during exercise. All subjects were free of CV disease as determined by detailed history and physical examination, normal resting and treadmill exercise electrocardiograms, and absence of perfusion abnormality on thallium scin-tigraphy during treadmill stress testing in men over 40 years, and in women over 50 years of age. From baseline SBP values, 35% of the study population presented with hypertension based on the JNC 7 guidelines (14). However, no subject was taking any cardiac or antihypertensive medications. The study was approved by the institutional review boards of the National Institute on Aging and Johns Hopkins University. All subjects provided written informed consent to participate.