Sex differences in respiratory muscle activation patterns during high-intensity exercise in healthy humans

•Women experience less diaphragmatic fatigue than men during exercise.•This difference may be due to sex differences in inspiratory muscle recruitment.•There is no sex difference in relative diaphragm activation during exercise.•Women have greater relative activation of extra-diaphragmatic inspirato...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Respiratory physiology & neurobiology 2018-01, Vol.247, p.57-60
Main Authors: Mitchell, Reid A., Schaeffer, Michele R., Ramsook, Andrew H., Wilkie, Sabrina S., Guenette, Jordan A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Electromyography
Exercise
Exercise - physiology
Exercise Test
Female
Humans
Inhalation - physiology
Male
Muscle Fatigue - physiology
Respiratory muscle activation
Respiratory Muscles - physiology
Sex Characteristics
Sex difference
Spirometry
Young Adult
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Summary:•Women experience less diaphragmatic fatigue than men during exercise.•This difference may be due to sex differences in inspiratory muscle recruitment.•There is no sex difference in relative diaphragm activation during exercise.•Women have greater relative activation of extra-diaphragmatic inspiratory muscles.•Extra-diaphragmatic muscle recruitment may reduce diaphragm fatigue in women. Although women experience greater ventilatory constraints and have a higher work of breathing during exercise, they are less susceptible to diaphragm fatigue compared to men. The mechanisms for diaphragmatic fatigue resistance in women is unknown but may be related to sex differences in respiratory muscle recruitment. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine if electromyography (EMG) of the diaphragm (EMGdi) and extra-diaphragmatic inspiratory muscles differ between sexes during exercise. Forty subjects (21M:19F) completed a constant load cycling test at 85% of maximum work rate until exhaustion, while instrumented with an oesophageal electrode catheter to measure EMGdi and surface electrodes to measure EMG of the sternocleidomastoid (EMGscm) and scalene (EMGsca) muscles. No sex difference in EMGdi was observed at any measurement time. However, EMGscm and EMGsca were higher throughout all submaximal exercise times in women (p
ISSN:1569-9048
1878-1519
DOI:10.1016/j.resp.2017.09.002