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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 287/4/H1530    most recent 00322.2004v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Christou, D. D. Articles by Seals, D. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Christou, D. D. Articles by Seals, D. R.

Increased abdominal-to-peripheral fat distribution contributes to altered autonomic-circulatory control with human aging

¹Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309; and ²Divisions of Cardiology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262

Submitted 1 April 2004 ; accepted in final form 26 May 2004

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) control of the circulation is altered with aging in adult humans. Similar changes are observed in obesity, particularly abdominal obesity. To determine whether age-associated differences in ANS-circulatory function can be partially explained by increased body fatness, we examined ANS function and three expressions of adiposity (total body fat, abdominal body fat, and abdominal-to-peripheral body fat distribution; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) in 43 healthy men: 27 young (25 ± 1 yr) and 16 older (65 ± 1). ANS functions assessed included 1) autonomic support of arterial blood pressure (BP; radial artery catheter), i.e., the reduction in BP during versus before acute ganglionic blockade (GB; intravenous trimethaphan); 2) baroreflex buffering, i.e., the increase in systolic BP with continuous incremental and bolus infusions of phenylephrine during versus before GB; 3) cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (Oxford technique); and 4) heart rate variability (time- and frequency-domain analyses). Covarying for abdominal-to-peripheral fat distribution reduced or abolished age-related differences in ANS support of BP, cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity, and heart rate variability but did not affect age-related differences in baroreflex buffering. Covarying for abdominal and total fat had small selective or no effects on age-associated differences in autonomic-circulatory control. Abdominal-to-peripheral fat distribution explains a significant portion of the variance in a number of autonomic-circulatory functions attributable to aging. Therefore, the development of this fat pattern may contribute to several changes in ANS-cardiovascular function observed with aging. These results may help explain how changes in body fat distribution with advancing age are linked to impairments in circulatory control.

blood pressure; baroreflexes; cardiac vagal modulation

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