Blood Pressure and Cerebral Blood Flow Volume Responses to Mastication of Food

抄録

This study was designed to clarify the effect of mastication on the autonomic nervous system, and to determine the distribution of dominance between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nerve activation.
We measured heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), blood flow volume of the common carotid artery (BFV_cc) with the ultrasound Doppler method as the parameter for cerebral blood flow, tympanic membrane temperature (Tty), cardiac output (CO), power spectrum (Total power, LF, HF) and other parameters during and after mastication of food. Eleven. healthy males (age, 20 to 39 yrs) participated as volunteer subjects. The masticatory exercise (Mas -ex) was carried out with 5 pieces of kamaboko (25g apiece) and konjac, which was masticated continuously for fifteen minutes by Mas-ex with the usual rhythm respectively in the supine position. Konjac was used as the control food.
HR, blood pressure, CO, BFV_cc and total power, VLF, LF, HF of power spectral data increased and PW decreased with Mas-ex. HR, SBP and DBP, BFV_cc, CO were correlated with total power, VLF, LF in Mas-ex during kamaboko and konjac.
Mastication of kamaboko and konjac stimulated the whole autonomic nervous system, hence not only the sympathetic nerves, but also the parasympathetic nerves were activated simultaneously during Mas-ex. These results reveal that blood flow under Mas-ex might shift to recruit blood into the brain and the digestive organs under conditions of peripheral vasoconstriction and cardiac work. Since Mas-ex increases cerebral blood flow, masticatory stimulation immediately could affect the whole body.