Brain anticipatory cardiovascular responses to exercise

Cardiovascular responses during the exposure to psychological and/or physical stress have been described since more than a century. The autonomic adjustments in response to these conditions are known to be mediated by central signals (Central Command) descending from higher brain centres as well as, during physical exercise, from peripheral reflexes arising from working muscles. Studies performed in exercise and non-exercise conditions, allowed to dissociate the role of peripheral inputs and central signals in the genesis of cardiovascular responses to stressors and to precise their role in the arousal of physiological functions following, or even before, the exposure to stress events. In fact cardiovascular arousal is often of anticipatory nature since it promotes metabolic, respiratory, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal changes even before the exercise onset. This review in particular focuses on the hemodynamic responses in preparation to exercise, their differences in comparison to cardiovascular responses induced by psychological stressors as well as on the CNS structures and mechanisms involved in their genesis.