Partial-body cryostimulation does not impact peripheral microvascular responsiveness but reduces muscular metabolic O2 consumption (mV˙O2) at rest

Sex‐specific microvascular and hemodynamic responses to passive limb heating in young adults

“…reported that 3 min of cryostimulation reduced the rate of desaturation (i.e., oxygenated hemoglobin signal) during ischemia in males, yet this did not lead to any change in the subsequent rate of reoxygenation. That is, males desaturated less, but there was no observable effect on the degree of subsequent reactive hyperemia 20 . Relatedly, our group has shown that experimentally manipulating the degree of desaturation (e.g., hypoxic stimulus) to match between men and women does not abolish the routinely reported sex difference in NIRS‐based measures of reactive hyperemia 6 .…”

“…These bivariate analyses indicated that individuals with greater pre‐VOT normalized BABF, also had greater downslope (e.g., proxy for metabolic rate) and StO 2max values. Additionally, these relationships are interdependent such that a greater muscle metabolic rate during ischemia may lead to a greater ischemic vasodilatory stimulus, 18,58 but notably, others have provided compelling evidence that the extent of hypoxia experienced during ischemia does not influence corresponding NIRS‐based measures of reactive hyperemia 6,20 …”

“…This has been partially supported by manipulating the duration of transient ischemia 6,18,19 . However, most recently, Theurot et al 20 . reported that 3 min of cryostimulation reduced the rate of desaturation (i.e., oxygenated hemoglobin signal) during ischemia in males, yet this did not lead to any change in the subsequent rate of reoxygenation.…”