Cardiovascular Abnormalities, Cerebrovascular Disease; Sequelae, Cognitive Impairment, Spinal Cord Injuries
Conditions
Brief summary
The aims of this proposal are to: 1) investigate whether individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) demonstrate cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive dysfunctions compared to non-injured age- and sex-matched controls in the following conditions: supine rest and head-up tilt/face-cooling test; 2) examine if autonomic completeness/ incompleteness, physical activity, and psychological distress are predictors for dysfunctions during supine rest and head-up tilt/face cooling conditions in SCI individuals; 3) examine if one bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise temporarily improves cardiac autonomic and cerebrovascular functions and thereby improves cognition when in supine rest and head- up tilt/face cooling conditions. The study will include an initial visit and an experimental visit to our lab. Three groups of participants will be included in this study: Group 1, SCI with acute exercise; group 2, SCI with rest-control; and group 3, age- and sex-matched non-injured individuals. Cardiovascular variables, such as heart rate variability, blood pressure variability, and cerebrovascular variables, such as cerebral blood flow velocity and oxygenated hemoglobin, and cognitive performance will be examined. The investigator hypothesizes that individuals with SCI will have impaired cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive functions compared to the non-injured controls, and an acute exercise can improve those functions. Autonomic completeness/incompleteness, physical activity, and psychological distress are significant factors that predict cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive functions in individuals with SCI.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALOne bout of moderate-intensity sub-maximal aerobic exercise
The intervention is a 20-min acute exercise using arm ergometer
Sponsors
State University of New York at Buffalo
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 55 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Spinal cord injury group: * Males or females with chronic SCI (i.e. at least 6 months after the initial injury) * International Standard for Neurological Classification of SCI (ISNCSCI) A-D * Neurological level of injury C6 or below * 18-55 years old * Proficient in English * Able to detect middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCAv) and/or posterior cerebral artery blood velocity (PCAv) signals through TCD Non-injured controls: * Males or females without SCI * 18-55 years old * Proficient in English * Able to detect MCAv and/or PCAv signals through TCD
Exclusion criteria
* Cardiovascular, pulmonary or respiratory diseases, or diabetes mellitus, any other diseases/disorders affecting cardiac autonomic nervous system, such as glaucoma and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) * Color Blindness * Pregnancy
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiac sympathetic function | During baseline pre the 20-min acute exercise | Low frequency component of blood pressure variability in mmHg\^2 |
| Cardiac parasympathetic function | During baseline pre the 20-min acute exercise | High frequency component of heart rate variability in mm\^2 |
| Cerebrovascular functions | During baseline pre the 20-min acute exercise | Assessed by the middle and posterior cerebral artery velocity in centimeters per second |
| Cerebral oxygenation level | Change from baseline to the cognitive tests pre the 20-min acute exercise | Cerebral oxygenated hemoglobin in unknown unit |
| Cognitive function | During baseline pre the 20-min acute exercise | Reaction time in second |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed