The activity of a single muscle sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerve unit is affected by physiological stress in humans

Departments of 1 Internal Medicine and 2 Health Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan Submitted 24 February 2005 ; accepted in final form 22 August 2005 Recording of neural firing from single-unit muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) is a new strategy offering information about the frequency of pure sympathetic firing. However, it is uncertain whether and when single-unit MSNA would be more useful than multiunit MSNA for analysis of various physiological stresses in humans. In 15 healthy subjects, we measured single-unit and multiunit MSNA before and during handgrip exercise at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction for 3 min and during the Valsalva maneuver at 40 mmHg expiratory pressure for 15 s. Shapes of individual single-unit MSNA were proved to be consistent and suitable for further evaluation. Single-unit and multiunit MSNA exhibited similar responses during handgrip exercise. However, acceleration of neural firing determined from single-unit MSNA became steeper than multiunit MSNA during the Valsalva maneuver. During the Valsalva maneuver, unlike handgrip exercise, the distribution of multiunit burst between 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 spikes was significantly shifted toward multiple spikes within a given burst ( P < 0.05). These results indicated that evaluation of single-unit MSNA could provide more detailed and accurate information concerning the role and responses of neuronal discharges induced by various physiological stresses in humans, especially amid intense sympathetic activity. microneurography; handgrip exercise; Valsalva maneuver Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: H. Murai, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa Univ., 13–1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920–8641, Japan (e-mail: murai{at}medf.m.kanazawa-u.ac.jp )