Cerebral oxygenation declines despite maintained orthostatic tolerance after brief exposure to gravitational stress

We examined the effect of a single 120 s of exposure to +3 Gz (head-to-foot inertial forces) centrifugation as orthostatic stress on cerebral oxygenation (oxy-Hb) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) changes in response to stand test, in order to relate the occurrence of altered cerebral oxygenation control to any increase in sympathetic activity. Frontal near-infrared spectroscopy and mean arterial blood pressure at brain level (MAPbrain) were recorded in 14 subjects in supine and then in standing (10 min) position, before and after +3 Gz centrifugation. The decrease in oxy-Hb (−7 ± 5 a.u. versus −27 ± 4 a.u., P < 0.001) and in CBV (−6 ± 10 a.u. versus −15 ± 8 a.u., P < 0.05) upon standing was more important after +3 Gz centrifugation, with unchanged MAPbrain (−8 ± 8 mmHg versus −3 ± 11 mmHg). Upon standing, the high-frequency component of heart rate was lower (1090 ± 460 ms2 versus 827 ± 412 ms2, P < 0.05) after +3 Gz centrifugation. These findings suggest a downward shift in the static cerebral autoregulatory curve. We conclude that cerebral vasoconstriction might have occurred without centrally mediated increase in the entire peripheral sympathetic activity of the body.