Tone-entropy analysis on cardiac recovery after dynamic exercise

Autonomic controls on heart rate variability have been investigated; however, sympathovagal interactive modulations remain unexplored. The purpose of this study is to present a new method, tone-entropy analysis (T-E analysis) of heart period fluctuations, and to make clear an intensive cooperation of autonomic networks in heart recovery. On the basis of evidence obtained in animal experiments, we hypothesized that heart periods are lengthened or shortened beat to beat by assumed physiological mediators: accelerator and inhibitor. Their operations were evaluated through a normalized successive variation of the period, that is, the percentage index (PI). The process was described through PI distributions by using two indexes, tone and entropy, standard values of which were obtained through pharmacological autonomic blockade experiment. T-E analysis was applied to heart recovery (70 min) after dynamic exercise by 12 female athletes. Interactive autonomic modulations were expressed by a curved path in tone-entropy space. Results suggested that heart rate decay proceeds not by withdrawal of one pathway but by increasing activity of both pathways as vagosympathetic balance inclines slightly but significantly to the vagus division in the course of recovery. The process was examined through Fourier spectral analysis as well.