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BACKGROUND: Intermittent artificial gravity (AG) training over days and weeks has been shown to improve the human orthostatic tolerance limit (OTL) and improve cardiovascular regulation in response to orthostatic stress. Effects of a single AG exposure are currently unknown. METHODS: We tested cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress in 16 hypovolemic subjects (9 men and 7 women), once following a single, short (--90 min) bout of AG and once following asimilar period of head-down bed rest (HDBR). Hypovolemia was produced by intravenous furosemide infusion (20 mg) and orthostatic stress was produced by combined 70° head-up tilt (HUT) and progressively increasing lower body negative pressure until symptoms of presyncope developed. To assess reflex-induced changes in cardiovascular regulation, heart rate and blood pressure variability were analyzed by spectral analysis and baroreflex activity was evaluated by transfer function analysis. RESULTS: Compared to HDBR, a short AG exposure increased men's low frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz) power of systolic blood pressure (SBPLF), but did not change women's SBPLF responses to orthostatic stress. In response to 70° HUT, compared to supine, low frequency phase delay (PhaseLF) between systolic blood pressure and RR intervals increased by --20% following HDBR, but did not change following AG, reflecting improved baroreflex activity at a milder level of orthostatic stress after AG. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that a short bout of AG increased both sympathetic and baroreflex responsiveness to orthostatic stress in hypovolemia-induced, cardiovascular-deconditioned men and women, which may contribute to the AG induced improvement of OTL shown in our previous reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Exposure to spaceflight or simulations of microgravity reduce human postflight orthostatic tolerance. Exercise training and volume loading can reduce associated losses of plasma volume and muscle strength, but are not successful in maintaining postflight orthostatic tolerance. A preliminary study (16) indicated that short bouts of artificial gravity (AG) training on a centrifuge could increase orthostatic tolerance in healthy, ambulatory volunteers. We tested the same AG protocol for its tolerance effect on 14 men who underwent a 3-wk exposure to Gz acceleration training on NASA-Ames' (Moffet Field, CA) human-powered centrifuge., Methods: Subjects trained supine (head near the center of rotation) and in pairs (one subject rode passively while the other provided power to operate the 1.9-m centrifuge). The acceleration profile consisted of 7 min at 1 Gz before alternating between 1 and 2.5 Gz at 2-min intervals for 28 min. Each subject's presyncopal orthostatic tolerance limit (to a combination of 70 degrees head-up tilt and increasing lower body negative pressure) was determined before and after training., Results: There were no significant differences between training groups, but presyncopal orthostatic tolerance time was improved 17 +/- 10% (p < 0.05) for the combined groups. Mechanisms associated with increased tolerance included: increased cardiac output (p < 0.04), stroke volume (p < 0.01) and low-frequency spectral power of arterial pressure (p < 0.006), and decreased arterial pressure (p < 0.05) and vascular resistance (p < 0.04). Artificial gravity training in this group of men appears to increase orthostatic tolerance through a combination of decreased vascular resistance and enhanced cardiac function.