The cerebrovascular response to lower-body negative pressure vs. head-up tilt.

Lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) has been proposed as a MRI-compatible surrogate for orthostatic stress. Although the effects of LBNP on cerebral hemodynamic behavior have been considered to reflect those of orthostatic stress, a direct comparison with actual orthostasis is lacking. We assessed the effects of LBNP (-50 mmHg) vs. head-up tilt (HUT; at 70°) in 10 healthy subjects (5 female) on transcranial Doppler-determined cerebral blood flow velocity (CBF v ) in the middle cerebral artery and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) as estimated from the blood pressure signal (finger plethysmography). CPP was maintained during LBNP but decreased after 2 min in response to HUT, leading to an ~15% difference in CPP between LBNP and HUT ( P ≤ 0.020). Mean CBF v initially decreased similarly in response to LBNP and for HUT, but, from minute 3 on, the decline became ~50% smaller ( P ≤ 0.029) during LBNP. The reduction in end-tidal Pco2 partial pressure (PetCO2 ) was comparable but with an earlier return toward baseline values in response to LBNP but not during HUT ( P = 0.008). We consider the larger decrease in CBF v during HUT vs. LBNP attributable to the pronounced reduction in PetCO2 and to gravitational influences on CPP, and this should be taken into account when applying LBNP as an MRI-compatible orthostatic stress modality. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) has the potential to serve as a MRI-compatible surrogate of orthostatic stress but a comparison with actual orthostasis was lacking. This study showed that the pronounced reduction in end-tidal Pco2 together with gravitational effects on the brain circulation lead to a larger decline in cerebral blood flow velocity in response to head-up tilt than during lower-body negative pressure. This should be taken into account when employing lower-body negative pressure as MRI-compatible alternative to orthostatic stress.