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. 2024 Jul;12(13):e16144.
doi: 10.14814/phy2.16144.

The influence of oral contraceptives on the exercise pressor reflex in the upper and lower body

T J Pereira  1 , H Edgell  1   2
Affiliations

The influence of oral contraceptives on the exercise pressor reflex in the upper and lower body

T J Pereira et al. Physiol Rep. 2024 Jul.

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that oral contraceptive (OC) users have enhanced cardiorespiratory responses to arm metaboreflex activation (i.e., postexercise circulatory occlusion, PECO) and attenuated pressor responses to leg passive movement (PM) compared to non-OC users (NOC). We investigated the cardiorespiratory responses to arm or leg metaboreflex and mechanoreflex activation in 32 women (OC, n = 16; NOC, n = 16) performing four trials: 40% handgrip or 80% plantarflexion followed by PECO and arm or leg PM. OC and NOC increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) similarly during handgrip, plantarflexion and arm/leg PECO compared to baseline. Despite increased ventilation (VE) during exercise, none of the women exhibited higher VE during arm or leg PECO. OC and NOC similarly increased MAP and VE during arm or leg PM compared to baseline. Therefore, OC and NOC were similar across pressor and ventilatory responses to arm or leg metaboreflex and mechanoreflex activation. However, some differences due to OC may have been masked by disparities in muscle strength. Since women increase VE during exercise, we suggest that while women do not display a ventilatory response to metaboreflex activation (perhaps due to not reaching a theoretical metabolite threshold to stimulate VE), the mechanoreflex may drive VE during exercise in women.

Keywords: Hemodynamics; Mechanoreflex; Metaboreflex; Oral contraceptives; Ventilation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The heart rate (A), mean arterial pressure (MAP; B), and ventilation (C) responses to metaboreflex activation (i.e., postexercise circulatory occlusion; PECO) in the arm of OC (dashed line & open triangles) and NOC females (solid line & closed triangles). Data presented as mean ± SD. a: Indicates significantly different than Baseline in both groups. b: Indicates significantly different than PECO in both groups. c: Indicates significantly different than Recovery in both groups.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The heart rate (A), mean arterial pressure (MAP; B), and ventilation (C) responses to metaboreflex activation (i.e., postexercise circulatory occlusion; PECO) in the leg of OC (dashed line & open triangles) and NOC females (solid line & closed triangles). Data presented as mean ± SD. a: Indicates significantly different than Baseline in both groups. b: Indicates significantly different than PECO in both groups. c: Indicates significantly different than Recovery in both groups.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The heart rate (A), mean arterial pressure (MAP; B), and ventilation (C) responses to mechanoreflex activation (i.e., passive movement; PM) in the arm in OC (dashed line & open triangles) and NOC (solid line & closed triangles) females. Data presented as mean ± SD. a: Indicates significantly different than Baseline within group.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The heart rate (A), mean arterial pressure (MAP; B), and ventilation (C) responses to mechanoreflex activation (i.e., passive movement; PM) in the leg in OC (dashed line & open triangles) and NOC (solid line & closed triangles). Data presented as mean ± SD. a: Indicates significantly different than Baseline within group.
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