Inter- and Intra-Individual Analysis of Post-Exercise Hypotension Following a Single Bout of High-Intensity Interval Exercise and Continuous Exercise: A Pilot Study

Recently, post-exercise blood pressure (BP) has been considered a predictive tool to identify individuals who are responsive or not to BP reductions with exercise training (i. e., "high" and "low responders"). This study aimed to analyze the inter- and intra-individual BP responsiveness following a single bout of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and continuous exercise (CE) in normotensive men (n=14; 24.5±4.2 years). Mean change in BP during the 60 min period post-exercise was analyzed and minimal detectable change (MDC) was calculated to classify the subjects as "low" (no post-exercise hypotension [PEH]) and "high responders" (PEH occurrence) following each exercise protocol (inter-individual analysis). The MDC for systolic and diastolic BP was 5.8 and 7.0 mmHg. In addition, a difference equal/higher than MDC between the exercise protocols was used to define an occurrence of intra-individual variability in BP responsiveness. There were "low" and "high" PEH responders following both exercise protocols (inter-individual variability) as well as subjects who presented higher PEH following a specific exercise protocol (intra-individual variability between exercise protocols). These results were observed mainly for systolic BP. In summary, PEH is a heterogeneous physiological phenomenon and, for some subjects, seems to be exercise-protocol dependent. Further investigations are necessary to confirm our preliminary findings.

Is the mouse follicle culture a good model for the goat with respect to the development of preantral follicles in vitro?

The present study evaluated the efficiency of using 2 culture media developed for mice and for goats in the in vitro preantral follicle culture of each species. Murine and caprine secondary follicles were cultured in vitro with human recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (murine medium) or with bovine recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone in association with growth hormone (caprine medium). The results showed that murine follicles cultured in caprine medium had lower (P < 0.05) rates of follicular survival and growth, whereas for caprine follicles, these variables were not affected by the type of medium used (P > 0.05). After in vitro maturation, a higher (P < 0.05) number of oocytes that resumed meiosis were observed in the murine medium for both species. In contrast, only in the caprine species estradiol production was significantly superior when the caprine medium was used. Higher progesterone production was observed in the presence of the murine medium only for murine follicles (P < 0.05). In conclusion, murine and caprine preantral follicles cultured under the same in vitro culture medium conditions respond differently; caprine oocytes grown in vitro in the presence of the murine medium show the greatest developmental competence among the tested combinations. Therefore, under the present experimental conditions, the mouse follicle culture has proved be a good model for the development of new culture media for caprine preantral follicles.