Investigating the role and response of the human vasculature in the adaptive response to stressful exercise

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Although the role of human vascular system appears straightforward as a simple transporter of blood, its form and function are actually highly complex. In order to appropriately control blood flow and adequately supply other parts of the human body the vasculature has the ability to adapt its size and stiffness, both in the short term to address immediate demand, and more chronically to adapt to the body's ongoing signals. How and why these changes actually occur is incompletely understood, particularly in regard to the effects of human physical activity. Current evidence suggests that changes in the stiffness and size of human arteries can be affected by the overall volume,type, intensity, frequency and duration of physical activity, but the relative influence of individual (or combined) factors is unclear. It is also unclear how different types of exercise may affect the vasculature in different regions of the body, such as arteries in the working appendage versus arteries closer to the heart. Changes in the form and function of the central vasculature has effects on almost all other organ systems in the body, particularly the heart, and can affect how efficiently these organ systems operate. On a broader scale, the changes in the properties of our arteries can have implications for human function and capacity in general.  ******Our work aims to understand how different types and volumes of exercise affect the human vasculature considering both short and long-term changes. We are also attempting to understand how and why a stimulus may be beneficial to performance/adaptation/function at one level, but detrimental at another. We will address these changes using regularly encountered exercise, as well as exercise models that reduce or amplify certain effects in order to understand the contribution of different stresses such as inflammation and sustained or pulsatile occlusions of blood flow. The outcomes of this work will not only increase our understanding of the complexities of the cardiovascular system from a general science perspective, but have potential to inform a diverse range of human applications including areas such as biomedical engineering, pharmaceutical design, and understanding the interplay of different organ systems. This research is directly important to those who work in fields concerned with human function, engineering, or some facet of cardiovascular physiology, but also has the potential to lay the framework for innovations that may one day affect the everyday Canadian.