Cardiorespiratory dynamics

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In our every day lives, we must constantly adapt to demands of changing posture or physical activity. My research program has taken an integrative perspective to merge information from the cellular level through to whole body adaptations to these daily challenges. When we begin physical activity, the cardiovascular system must adapt and pump blood containing oxygen to the working muscles. At the muscles, oxygen delivery interacts with the metabolic processes to supply the energy required to accomplish the task. My research has developed sensitive methods to non-invasively track the cardiovascular adaptations in exercising humans and will now expand to include magnetic resonance spectroscopy which is a non-invasive method to monitor changes in oxygen and metabolism inside an exercising muscle. Our work will reveal greater detail about control mechanisms and it will establish a solid basis upon which to study individuals who have abnormalities in their metabolic processes or diseases that limit supply of blood flow to the muscles. Each day on rising from bed, our cardiovascular control systems must function efficiently so that we can maintain an upright posture without fainting. While we know that women have many advantages over men in their avoidance of cardiovascular diseases, women also have a relatively greater incidence of dizziness or fainting when they stand. It is important to examine the differences between the sexes to determine how the cardiovascular system regulates the distribution of blood flow to the lower regions of the body in the legs or abdomen compared to brain blood flow. Recent evidence is suggesting that differences between individuals in their ability to regulate blood pressure is due at least in part to small differences in the genetic information that codes for various cardiovascular structures including estrogen receptors on blood vessels. By studying the relationship between the genotype and the ability to maintain blood pressure with a change in posture we will gain a more complete understand why large differences exist between individuals and we will be able to point to specific approaches that can prevent fainting in otherwise healthy men and women.