Gender differences in regulation of the sympathetic nervous system may contribute to gender differences in cardiovascular risk
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Certain adipose tissue-derived adipokines modulate sympathetic activity. Whereas sympathetic activation may promote insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia and/or brain insulin can modulate sympathetic system activity. Data from two microneurography centres were pooled in order to evaluate whether or not muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) correlated differently with waist circumference, waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) and BMI in women and men. A total of 111 normotensive, healthy Caucasian subjects were included in the study and supine heart rate, blood pressure and MSNA were recorded after at least 30 min rest. In both sexes, MSNA expressed in bursts/min was age-dependent and remained so after controlling for waist and hip circumferences. After adjusting for age, waist circumference, WHR and BMI were predictive for MSNA in men, but not in women. When adjusting for BMI, only WHR remained predictive for MSNA in men. These results support the hypothesis of a gender difference in the regulation of the sympathetic nervous system, with MSNA mainly relating to WHR in men but not in women.
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