Autonomic responses to exercise: cortical and subcortical responses during post-exercise ischaemia and muscle pain

Sustained isometric contraction of skeletal muscle causes an increase in blood pressure, due to an increase in cardiac output and an increase in total peripheral resistance-brought about by an increase in sympathetically-mediated vasoconstriction. Both central command and reflex inputs from metaboreceptors in the contracting muscles have been shown to contribute to this sympathetically mediated increase in blood pressure. Occluding the blood supply and trapping the metabolites in the contracted muscle (post-exercise ischaemia) has shown that, while heart rate returns to baseline following exercise, the increase in MSNA and blood pressure persists in the absence of central command-sustained by peripheral inputs. Post-exercise ischaemia activates group III and IV muscle afferents, which are also activated during noxious stimulation. Indeed, post-exercise ischaemia is painful, so what is the role of pain in the increase in blood pressure? Intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline causes a deep dull ache, not unlike that produced by post-exercise ischaemia, and we have shown that this can cause a sustained increase in MSNA and blood pressure. We have used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brain to identify the cortical and subcortical sites involved in the sensory processing of muscle pain, and in the generation of the autonomic responses to muscle pain, produced either by post-exercise ischaemia or intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline. During static hand-grip exercise there were parallel increases in signal intensity in the contralateral primary motor cortex, deep cerebellar nuclei and cerebellar cortex that ceased at the end of the exercise, reflecting the start and end of central command. Progressive increases during the contraction phase occurred in the contralateral insula, as well as the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex, and continued during the period of post-exercise ischaemia. Decreases in signal intensity occurred in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex during the contraction phase; these too were sustained during post-exercise ischaemia. That similar changes occurred with intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline suggests that much of the cortical and subcortical changes seen during post-exercise ischaemia reflect the sensory and affective attributes of the muscle pain, rather than in furnishing the cardiovascular responses per se.