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Physiology of Ageing > Week 3 > Flashcards

Week 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the components of the cardiovascular system?

A

the heart, blood vessels, nervous system and blood

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2
Q

What are the functions of the cardiovascular system?

A

Transports nutrients, gases and waste
Maintain body temp
Protection from infection
Distribute hormones

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3
Q

What happens to our fitness and endurance performance as we age?

A

Our fitness declines as we age and we have worse endurance performance

This happens regardless of your lifestyle choices, we can slow down but not completely eliminate these changes

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4
Q

What is the prevalence of heart disease in Canadians?

A

A rapid increase in the incidence of CVD as we age (45 yrs to 54 yrs old)

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5
Q

What are the impacts of aging on the cardiovascular system?

A

Decreased valve function
Death of pacemaker cells
The left ventricular wall thickens

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6
Q

Why do we have a decrease in valve function as we age?

A

repeated mechanical stress (worsens with hypertension)
infection/inflammation (chronic)
genetic
aging theory = wear and tear (harder to help blood flow)

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7
Q

Why does the left ventricular wall thicken and lose elasticity?

A

Myocyte death/hypertrophy, increases fibrosis
- repeated mechanical stress (+hypertension)
- ROS
- infection/inflammation
- genetic
- hormones (lack of growth hormone)

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8
Q

Why do we see death in pacemaker cells when we age?

A

Cell loss and dysfunction
- ROS
- Inflammation/infection
- genetic

This reduces our ability to control our heart rate

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9
Q

What kind of effect does exercise have on ROS?

A

Exercise will increase ROS short term but you will see benefits in long term (the body learns how to manage)

This can lower our biological age, improves immune system and function of anti-oxidants

Exercise can offset some things; ROS, hypertension (longterm), mechanical stress (short term)

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10
Q

Does contractile force increase or decrease after we age?

A

Decrease

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11
Q

Does cardiac output increase or decrease as we age?

A

Decrease

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12
Q

Does blood flow increase or decrease as we age?

A

Decrease

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13
Q

Does the risk of arrhythmia increase or decrease as we age?

A

Increase

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14
Q

Describe the three changes in the heart with advanced age including the impact on CV function. Explain the three changes using all the theories of aging

A

Three changes: decreased valve function (increase in hypertension), death of pacemaker cells (increases arrhythmia), and thickening of the left ventricular wall (reduction in blood flow).

Death of pacemaker cells:
- programmed longevity: biological clock “pre-programmed cell death”
- Immunological: Increased rates of chronic inflammation, the immune system cannot handle it, cell death
- Endocrine theory: lack of gh = myocyte death, myocyte death > increase in fibrosis and therefore hormonal disruption
- Wear and Tear: cell loss of function = repeated mechanical stress

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15
Q

What is atherosclerosis?

A

Formation of atheromas (plaques)
Narrowing of arteries due to plaque build-up

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16
Q

Why does atherosclerosis happen?

A

the decrease in immune system function results in an increase in inflammation, and an increase in inflammation results in an increase in ROS, which in turn results in a decrease in decalcification.

17
Q

What is arteriosclerosis? Why does this happen?

A

The thickening of arterial walls (stiffening/hardening)
- due to repeated mechanical stress (hypertension), ROS, genetic, infection/inflammation, and hormones.
- loss of smooth muscle cells, replaced with fibrous tissue

18
Q

What happens to blood pressure and blood flow with arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis

A
  • decreased blood flow
  • increased blood pressure
19
Q

List one similarity and one difference between atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis

A

Similarity: ROS is a contributing factor, decreasing blood flow and increased bp, narrowing of arteries

Difference: athero = plaque, arterio = thickening of walls, risk of death higher in athero, wear and tear is more directly involved in arterio (repeated mechanical stress)

20
Q

What physiological changes occur when our sympathetic nervous system is activated?

A
  • increased HR
  • increased SV
  • increase BP
  • increased blood flow to skeletal muscles
  • decreased blood flow to intestine and other organs
21
Q

What physiological changes occur when our parasympathetic nervous system is activated?

A
  • decreased heart rate
  • decreased stroke volume
  • decreased blood pressure
  • decreased blood flow to skeletal muscles
  • increased blood flow to intestine and other organs
22
Q

What are baroreceptors and how do they affect our cardiovascular system?

A
  • mechanical receptors that respond to changes in stretch
  • detect changes in bp and volume
  • help the body maintain appropriate blood pressure
  • an increase in blood pressure results in an increase in the stretch, the body will try to reduce heart rate
  • a decrease in blood pressure results in a decrease in the stretch, and the body will try to increase heart rate
23
Q

What happens to the baroreceptors as we age?

A

Decreased responsiveness to onset/offset of exercise

when we age our tissue becomes stiffer, we have a reduction in responsiveness to a change in BP,

in either direction you will need a bigger change in BP for our baroreceptors to respond, takes longer for HR to respond to account for that

24
Q

What is orthostatic hypotension?

A
  • a common cause of falls in older adults
  • “stood up too fast”
  • BP drops rapidly, and baroceptors take time to detect
25
Q

What happens to the pressor response to exercise with advanced age?

A
  • increased muscle stiffness (mechanoreceptors not as responsive), decrease in muscle mass (fewer sensory receptors)
  • decrease feedback from muscle to cv control center
  • decrease SNS response
  • a reduced function of the CV system, and now also have a slower response to the onset of exercise
26
Q

Based on the pressor response to exercise, why is warming up before exercise particularly important for older adults?

A
  • allows the cv system to slowly build - up output to supply enough blood
  • high-intensity exercise = muscles need lots of blood flow
  • since the receptors take longer, SNS takes longer, a huge amount of stress on the heart to get flood flow to working muscles in already compromised system
  • prevents cardiovascular events from happening

Physiology of Ageing (4 decks)

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