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Sweating response to passive stretch of the calf muscle during activation of forearm muscle metaboreceptors in heated humans

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AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology

Published online on

Abstract

Activation of muscle metaboreceptors and mechanoreceptors has been shown to independently influence the sweating response, while their integrative control effects remain unclear. We examined the sweating response when the two muscle receptors are concurrently activated in different limbs as well as the blood pressure response. In total, 27 young males performed passive calf muscle stretches (muscle mechanoreceptor activation) for 30 s in a semi-supine position with and without post-isometric handgrip exercise muscle ischemia (PEMI, muscle metaboreceptor activation) at exercise intensities of 35 and 50% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) under hot conditions (ambient temperature, 35°C, relative humidity, 50%). Passive calf muscle stretching alone increased the mean sweating rate significantly on the forehead, chest, and thigh (SRmean) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), but not the heart rate (HR), from pre-stretching levels by 0.04±0.01 mg/cm2/min, 4.0±1.3 mmHg (P < 0.05), and -1.0±0.5 beats/min (P > 0.05), respectively. The SRmean and MAP during PEMI were significantly higher than those at rest. The passive calf muscle stretch during PEMI increased MAP significantly, by 3.4±1.0 and 2.0±0.7 mmHg for 35 and 50% of MVC, respectively (P < 0.05), but not that of SRmean or HR at either exercise intensity. These results suggest that sweating and blood pressure respond to concurrent activation of the two muscle receptors in different limbs differ, and that the influence of calf muscle mechanoreceptor activation alone on the sweating response disappears during forearm muscle metaboreceptor activation.