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

虽然人类血管系统的作用看起来简单，只是一个简单的血液转运体，但它的形式和功能实际上是高度复杂的。为了适当地控制血流并充分地供应人体的其他部分，脉管系统具有调整其尺寸和刚度的能力，既在短期内解决即时需求，又更长期地适应身体的持续信号。这些变化是如何以及为什么发生的，人们还没有完全理解，特别是在人类体力活动的影响方面。目前的证据表明，人体动脉的硬度和大小的变化可能受到身体活动的总体体积，类型，强度，频率和持续时间的影响，但单个（或组合）因素的相对影响尚不清楚。目前还不清楚不同类型的运动如何影响身体不同区域的血管系统，例如工作附件中的动脉与靠近心脏的动脉。中央脉管系统的形式和功能的变化对身体中几乎所有其他器官系统都有影响，特别是心脏，并且可以影响这些器官系统的运作效率。在更广泛的范围内，我们动脉特性的变化可能对人类的功能和能力产生影响。 ** 我们的工作旨在了解不同类型和运动量如何影响人体血管系统，同时考虑短期和长期的变化。我们还试图了解刺激如何以及为什么在一个层面上对性能/适应/功能有益，但在另一个层面上有害。我们将使用经常遇到的运动来解决这些变化，以及减少或放大某些影响的运动模型，以了解不同压力的贡献，如炎症和持续或脉动的血流阻塞。这项工作的成果不仅将从一般科学的角度增加我们对心血管系统复杂性的理解，而且有可能为各种人类应用提供信息，包括生物医学工程，药物设计和理解不同器官系统的相互作用等领域。这项研究对那些在与人体功能，工程或心血管生理学的某些方面有关的领域工作的人来说直接重要，但也有可能为有朝一日可能影响加拿大日常生活的创新奠定框架。

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.