The cerebral circulation and oxygenation in response to sympathetic stress in ageing and in patients with metabolic disorders.

Notwithstanding the extensive scientific research on the cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygenation response (COX) to sympathetic stress in healthy individuals at rest, the effect of daily life activities (DLA), such as low-intensity exercise and mental stress, in both healthy individuals and in patients with metabolic diseases (i.e. Metabolic Syndrome and type II Diabetes Mellitus) are still unclear and require further investigation. Moreover, given the high incidence of cardiovascular complications of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2) and the related social burden, it would be of interest to ascertain whether in these patients the cerebral blood flow, the cerebral oxygenation, and the cardiovascular response during DLA-induced sympathetic activation resemble what already reported in Metabolic Syndrome (Doneddu et al. 2020) and ageing (Milia et al. 2015). Recently, using the method of the post-exercise muscle ischemia (PEMI), our group found that patients suffering from metabolic syndrome show an abnormal hemodynamics during sympathetic activation, with reduced cerebral blood flow. Starting from these considerations, I set a study to verify whether patients suffering from DM2 showed an abnormal COX during contemporary metaboreflex and mental task (MT) and during DLA.