The Role of Central Command in the Increase in Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity to Contracting Muscle During High Intensity Isometric Exercise

We previously demonstrated that muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) increases to contracting muscle as well as to non-contracting muscle, but this was only assessed during isometric exercise at ∼10% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Given that high-intensity isometric contractions will release more metabolites, we tested the hypothesis that the metaboreflex is expressed in the contracting muscle during high-intensity but not low-intensity exercise. MSNA was recorded continuously via a tungsten microelectrode inserted percutaneously into the right common peroneal nerve in 12 participants, performing isometric dorsiflexion of the right ankle at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% MVC for 2 min. Contractions were immediately followed by 6 min of post-exercise ischemia (PEI); 6 min of recovery separated contractions. Cross-correlation analysis was performed between the negative-going sympathetic spikes of the raw neurogram and the ECG. MSNA increased as contraction intensity increased, reaching mean values (± SD) of 207 ± 210 spikes/min at 10% MVC ( P = 0.04), 270 ± 189 spikes/min at 20% MVC ( P < 0.01), 538 ± 329 spikes/min at 30% MVC ( P < 0.01), 816 ± 551 spikes/min at 40% MVC ( P < 0.01), and 1,097 ± 782 spikes/min at 50% MVC ( P < 0.01). Mean arterial pressure also increased in an intensity-dependent manner from 76 ± 3 mmHg at rest to 90 ± 6 mmHg ( P < 0.01) during contractions of 50% MVC. At all contraction intensities, blood pressure remained elevated during PEI, but MSNA returned to pre-contraction levels, indicating that the metaboreflex does not contribute to the increase in MSNA to contracting muscle even at these high contraction intensities.