NEUROVASCULAR CONTROL IN DIASTOLIC HEART FAILURE

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the role of sympathetic nervous system in neurovascular control in patients with diastolic heart failure. In this protocol, the investigators plan to study muscle sympathetic nerve activity and plasma norepinephrine levels in patients with chronic heart failure due to diastolic heart dysfunction during rest, exercise (handgrip exercise) and orthostatic stress (head up tilt). They also plan to study the effects of exercise on renal blood flow in these patients.