The Short-Term Effects of Remote Ischaemic Conditioning on Cerebral Haemodynamics and Cerebral Autoregulation in Healthy Individuals

Remote Ischaemic conditioning (RIC), where brief cycles of ischaemia and reperfusion are applied to the limbs, may improve neurological outcome in acute stroke and reduce recurrent stroke. The short-term effect of RIC on the regulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF), one possible mechanism for these benefits, was investigated. Healthy participants underwent 5-minute recordings in beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP), electrocardiogram (heart rate, HR), end-tidal CO2 and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) with transcranial Doppler insonation of the middle cerebral arteries, before and after four cycles of RIC using 5-min inflation of bilateral thigh cuffs followed by 5-min deflation. Mean values were calculated together with estimates for cerebrovascular resistance, transfer function analysis (TFA) and autoregulation index (ARI). Twenty-five individuals (10 male), aged 28 ± 11 years, had increases in mean and diastolic BP after RIC (113 ± 13 vs. 116 ± 13, p = 0.046; 74 ± 8 vs. 76 ± 9 mmHg, p = 0.03; respectively). Systolic and mean CBFV decreased after RIC (94.5 ± 17.7 vs. 90.0 ± 15.5, p = 0.001; 63.9 ± 11.1 vs. 62.2 ± 10.5 cm s–1, p = 0.02; respectively), as well as pulsatility index (0.77 ± 0.11 vs 0.73 ± 0.11, p = 0.001). No changes occurred in ARI. TFA showed changes in very low frequency range with significantly increased power oscillations (BP and CBFV) and reduction in phase shift (1.04 ± 0.35 vs. 0.76 ± 0.34 radians, p < 0.01). RIC using bilateral thigh cuffs achieved short-term changes to the cerebrovascular and cardiovascular systems. Further evidence is required to establish the effects in a stroke population.