Combined effects of aerobic exercise and l -arginine ingestion on blood pressure in normotensive postmenopausal women: A crossover study

Abstract

After menopause the incidence of cardiovascular diseases increases in women. A decrease in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability has been pointed out to play a major role in this phenomenon. Since it is believed that l-arginine administration could improve NO bioavailability, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of acute l-arginine administration associated with aerobic exercise on blood pressure (BP), redox state and inflammatory biomarkers in normotensive postmenopausal women (NPW). Sixteen volunteers (57±6yr) were subjected to four experimental sessions (crossover design): arginine+exercise (A-E); arginine (ARG); exercise+placebo (EXE); control (CON). Each session was initiated with either 9g of l-arginine ingestion (ARG or A-E days), placebo (EXE day), or nothing (CON day). The participants performed 30min of aerobic exercise (A-E and EXE days) or sitting rest (CON and ARG days). Blood samples were collected before each session and 45min after the intervention. Office BP and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) were evaluated. NO/cGMP pathway, redox state and inflammatory biomarkers were measured. Systolic BP decreased during the 24-hour in A-E and EXE sessions. However, diastolic BP reduced only in A-E session. No changes were found in the biomarkers concentrations. In conclusion, the association was effective in lowering diastolic BP in NPW. Additionally, physical exercise alone promoted a long lasting effect on systolic BP measured by ABPM in this population, although this beneficial effect was not associated with changes in the cardio-inflammatory biomarkers. Possibly, other factors such as neural influences could be mediating this effect.

Effect of physical exercise on cardiometabolic parameters in post-menopause: an integrative review

“…The initial search identified a total of seven hundred and ninety-two (792) studies. After reading the titles and abstracts, twenty-seven (27) were found to be duplicates, seven hundred and six (706) did not answer the research question and one study (01) was not available in full. Thus, twenty-three (23) studies constituted the final sample of this review (Figure 1).…”

“…This category consisted of eight studies [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] with results related to the cardiovascular benefits if regular exercise in menopausal women. Three studies [25][26][27] demonstrated that exercise in postmenopausal women results in the elevation of antioxidant system, measured by the enzymes superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. These enzymes are primordial in the oxidative stress process and necessary for the maintenance of life, since they prevent and control the excessive production of free radicals involved in the reactions that trigger the incidence of oxidative damage 26 .…”

“…Exercise reduces blood pressure levels and heart rate and improves the sensitivity of arterial pressoreceptors due to increased oxidative enzyme activity and reduced oxidative stress 26 . In addition, reinforcing the importance of physical exercise as a cardioprotective agent, studies observed [26][27][28] that postmenopausal women who exercise have greater arterial pressoreceptor sensitivity and lower heart rate variability when compared to sedentary menopausal women. These parameters are considered relevant for the occurrence of mortality from cardiovascular diseases 29 .…”

The sex Differences in Blood Pressure and Cardiac Autonomic Modulation during the Menopause Transition at Rest and after Aerobic Exercise Training

“…Is there an endothelial dysfunction after menopause? Previous studies have systematically shown that NO/cGMP signaling pathway, as well as flow-mediated dilation, is not impaired in hypertensive postmenopausal women as compared with normotensive subjects (Sponton et al, 2014;Puga et al, 2016;Jarrete et al, 2016;Novais et al, 2017). Additionally, both hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women were responsive to aerobic exercise training (AET) by increasing the endothelial biomarkers related to NO/cGMP pathway (Sponton et al, 2010;Rezende et al, 2011).…”

Treinamento de caminhada na claudicação intermitente: respostas hemodinâmicas, autonômicas, inflamatórias e de estresse oxidativo em repouso e após uma caminhada máxima

“…SCOTT et al, 2015;PUGA et al, 2016;MEDEIROS-LIMA et al, 2017). No presente estudo, a caminhada máxima não modificou o NO sanguíneo e aumentou a expressão da eNOS no músculo afetado pela doença.…”