Karsten Heusser, Jens Tank, Olaf Holz, Marcus May, Julia Brinkmann, Stefan Engeli, André Diedrich, Theodor Framke, Armin Koch, Anika Großhennig, A H Jan Danser, Fred C G J Sweep, Christoph Schindler, Katharina Schwarz, Norbert Krug, Jens Jordan, Jens M Hohlfeld
Cardiovascular risk rapidly increased following exposure to air pollution. Changes in human autonomic regulation have been implicated based on epidemiological associations between exposure estimates and indirect autonomic nervous system measurements. We conducted a mechanistic study to test the hypothesis that, in healthy older individuals, well-defined experimental exposure to ultrafine carbon particles (UFP) increases sympathetic nervous system activity and more so with added ozone (O3 ). Eighteen participants (age >50 years, 6 women) were exposed to filtered air (Air), UFP, and UFP + O3 combination for 3 hours during intermittent bicycle ergometer training in a randomized, crossover, double-blind fashion...
March 6, 2019: Scientific Reports