IUPS/APS Newsroom March 29-April 6
San Diego Convention Center
Hall E Registration Area/Flex Unit
Telephone: 619.525.6228
Contact: Donna Krupa
(703) 967-2751 (cell)
(301) 634-7209 (office, outside IUPS dates)
Moderate Aerobic Exercise
Improves Cardiovascular And Nervous System Function In HIV+ Subjects
Spierer worked at the Department of Biobehavioral
Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University with Adrienne Zion, Gregory
Gates and Ronald De Meersman and completed the investigation at Coler
Goldwater, also in New York City, working with Augusta Alba, Jay Kleinfeld,
Eugene McPherson and Julie Romero.
*Paper presentation
“Fitness is associated with improved arterial
compliance and parasympathetic modulation in HIV,” 12:30 p.m.-3 p.m. Sunday
April 3, Physiology 347.11/board #A67. On view 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Spierer is presenting the research at the 35th Congress of the International
Union of Physiological Sciences in San Diego, March 31 - April 5, 2005.
Four groups compared for arterial compliance, heart
rate, baroreflex sensitivity
The researchers examined the quantitative effects of
aerobic fitness on the compliance of the arteries (how flexible the arteries
are in allowing adequate blood flow); modulation or alteration of the
parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, which exerts great
influence on heart rate, normally elevated in people with HIV; and
baroreflex sensitivity, a sensitive reflex in response to blood pressure
changes..
These measures were taken in the following four groups:
HIV- unfit (HNU), HIV- fit (HNF), HIV+ unfit (HPU), and
HIV+ fit (HPF). Groups were matched for age, body mass index, aerobic
capacity, and medication. Fit groups participated in a 10-week training
program; unfit groups followed their normal daily activities and weren’t
given a specific exercise program. HIV+ subjects were positive within 24
months of the study, and asymptomatic.
Results both expected and “striking”
Arterial compliance was augmented in HPF vs. HPU
(probability, or p=.006). This finding was not surprising. “We expected to
see an improved circulation in our HPF group over that of our HPU group.
Modulation of the parasympathetic nervous system was higher in HPF vs. HPU
(p< .05), meaning that out of those subjects with HIV disease, the
exercising group exhibited lower heart rates both at rest and during
exercise, compared to the non-exercising group,” Spierer reported.
Baroreflex sensitivity was higher for HPF vs. HPU
(p=.003) and for HPF vs. HNU (p=.004). “This indicates a greater control of
blood pressure in response to external stimuli in those with HIV disease who
engaged in moderate aerobic exercise, compared with both those who have HIV
but don’t exercise, and those without HIV who don’t exercise,” Spierer said.
“But the most striking result,” he added, “was that
aerobic conditioning wasn’t significantly different between the fit groups,
whether or not they had HIV” (41.4±2.4 vs 43.9±4.2 ml/kg/minute). Spierer
explained: “Those with HIV often suffer from reduced exercise capacity,
muscle wasting, and respiratory complications. However, this wasn’t the case
in the fit HIV+ subjects in our study. In fact, their exercise capacity
wasn’t significantly different from the fit HIV-negative subjects.
Next steps. The New York researchers plan on
doing follow up studies using exercise interventions to determine
dose-response and other studies to examine more closely mechanisms of the
immune system in response to exercise. Areas that they’ll be studying
include: natural killer cell level and activation in response to exercise in
HIV disease, circuit training in HIV disease, and various levels of
intensity during exercise in those with HIV disease. (Late last year the
researchers presented a paper at the American Society of Hemotaology which
examined specific changes in immune function in HIV subjects after moderate
aerobic exercise.)
***
The 35th Congress of the International Union of
Physiological Sciences is in San Diego, March 31 - April 5, 2005. The
Congress (http://www.iups2005.org/)
is organized by the six member societies of the U.S. National Committee of
the IUPS,
the American Physiological Society,
the Society for Neuroscience,
the Microcirculatory Society,
the Society of General Physiologists,
the Biomedical Engineering Society, and
the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, under the auspices
of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
The IUPS conference, held every four years, runs
concurrently this year with Experimental Biology 2005 at the San Diego
Convention Center.
The American Physiological Society (APS), which is
hosting IUPS, was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied science, much
of it relating to human health. The Bethesda, MD-based Society has more than
10,000 members and publishes nearly 4,000 articles every year in its 14
peer-reviewed journals. In May, APS received the Presidential Award
for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).
***
Editor’s Note: For further information or to
schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact
Donna Krupa at the IUPS/APS newsroom @ 619.525.6228 (March 31-April
6), or (703) 967-2751 (cell) or (301) 634-7209 (office), or Stacy Brooks at
240.432.9697 (cell) or 301.634.7253 (office).
A searchable online program for IUPS and EB is at
http://www.faseb.org/meetings/eb2005/call/default.htm
