The impact of oral contraceptive pill use on sympathetic transduction at rest in young females.

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Effects of biological sex and oral contraception on the sympathetic neurocirculatory adjustments to static handgrip exercise in humans.

While biological sex affects the neurocirculatory adjustments to exercise, the effects of sex hormones on sympathetic action potential (AP) patterns and ensuing vascular transduction remain unknown. We tested the hypothesis that males, and females using oral contraceptive pills (OCPs), would demonstrate larger increases in sympathetic activation and sympathetic vascular transduction compared with naturally menstruating females during static handgrip exercise (SHG) and postexercise circulatory occlusion (PECO). Young males [ = 14, 25 (5) yr], females using OCPs [ = 16, 24 (6) yr], and naturally menstruating females [ = 18, 26 (4) yr] underwent assessments of multiunit muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA)/AP discharge patterns (microneurography) and femoral artery blood flow (ultrasound) during fatiguing SHG at 40% maximum voluntary contraction and 2-min PECO.