Ascending aortic blood flow dynamics following intense exercise.

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast aortic blood flow kinetics during recovery from intense aerobic (maximal oxygen uptake test) and anaerobic (Wingate anaerobic power test) exercise. Fifteen healthy male subjects (VO2max = 56.1 +/- 5.8 mk/kg/min) participated in this study. Beat-to-beat peak aortic blood flow velocity (pkV) and acceleration (pkA) measurements were obtained by placing a 3.0 MHz continuous-wave ultrasonic transducer on the suprasternal notch at rest and during recovery (immediately post-exercise, 2.5 min, and 5.0 min) following the two exercise conditions. Peak velocity and acceleration significantly increased (p less than 0.01) from rest to immediately post-exercise and remained elevated throughout the 5-min recovery period. No differences were observed between the aerobic and anaerobic tests. Stroke distance significantly declined (p less than 0.01) immediately following exercise and progressively rose during the 5-min recovery period. The results indicate that: 1) aortic blood flow kinetics remained elevated during short-term recovery, and 2) intense aerobic and anaerobic exercise exhibit similar post-exercise aortic blood flow kinetics.