Spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with marked and rapid vascular adaptations
that negatively impact upon activities of daily living, for example, orthostatic tolerance,
heat stress and exercise performance, as well as cardiovascular health. Understanding
the vascular adaptations after SCI will help to understand the underlying mechanisms
for poor exercise tolerance and health in SCI. The onset of SCI is associated with
rapid arterial remodeling in both large and smaller arteries. In conduit and resistance
arteries, a rapid and strong inward remodeling is present, whilst results in impaired
vascular function after SCI. Studies performed after exercise training in able-bodied
individuals result in improved vascular function, largely through an increase in vasodilators.
In contrast, SCI is not associated with favorable changes in vasodilators, but rather
causes an increased role of vasoconstrictors in vascular function. Therefore, the
effects of deconditioning, e.g., SCI, on the vasculature are not simply the opposite
of those in response to exercise training. Moreover, exercise training in SCI is able
to reverse functional and structural remodeling, which suggests that vascular adaptations
in SCI are primarily caused by deconditioning.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and ClinicalAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Article info
Publication history
Received:
May 15,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc.
