Cerebrovascular Responses During an Acute Bout of Resistance Exercise Do Not Differ Between Sex

Background Resistance exercise is recommended to reduce risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, with evidence suggesting that women who engage in regular resistance exercise may receive a greater benefit than men. It is unknown whether acute resistance exercise elicits sex-specific pulsatile hemodynamic responses that may provide context to the apparent sex differences and would be relevant for the potential contribution to the benefits of resistance training on cardiovascular disease risk. Methods and Results This study compared carotid and cerebrovascular pulsatile hemodynamic responses between men and women during an acute bout of resistance exercise. Twenty men (25 ± 6 yrs, BMI 24.7 ± 2.0 kg/m 2 ) and 20 women (23 ± 5 yrs, BMI 24.9 ± 3.4 kg/m 2 ) completed leg press resistance exercise (2 warmup sets, 3 sets at 65% 1-repetition max for 12 repetitions) with assessments at rest and during sets 1 and 3 of 65% 1-repetition max. Middle cerebral artery (MCA) pulsatility index, pulsatile damping, and carotid β-stiffness were assessed via Doppler ultrasound and tonometry. Beat-to-beat blood pressure was measured via photoplethysmography. During resistance exercise men exhibited larger increases in mean arterial pressure compared to women (interaction p = 0.003). Compared to rest, acute resistance exercise increased MCA pulsatility ( p < 0.001), cerebral pulsatile damping ( p < 0.001), and carotid β-stiffness ( p = 0.01) in both groups, with no significant interaction effects observed. Conclusion Despite a greater pressor response among men, increases in cerebral pulsatility, pulsatile damping, and β-stiffness were not different between men and women during acute resistance exercise. These data provide the rationale to further explore the role of sex-specific pressor responses and its hemodynamic consequences on vascular adaptations to regular resistance exercise.