Endothelial Flow-Mediated Dilatation and Exercise Capacity in Highly Trained Endurance Athletes

Abstract

Brachial artery ultrasound during reactive hyperemia is a noninvasive method of assessing peripheral endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. Aerobic exercise has the potential to improve local endothelial function. We sought to analyze the effects of regular aerobic training on brachial artery endothelial function in endurance athletes. We studied diameter and blood flow of the brachial artery in 32 endurance male athletes and 30 healthy male subjects. In the same subjects flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery was recorded by inducing an ischemia through a forearm arterial occluding cuff. Maximal oxygen consumption was significantly higher in the athletes group than in the controls (61.24 ± 5.43 vs 44.49 ± 2.68 ml/kg/min, p < 0.001). Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery induced by forearm arterial occlusion in athletes was also higher than that of the control subjects (17.1 ± 2.3 vs 11.2 ± 1.7, p = 0.002). Furthermore, there was an association between flow-mediated dilatation and V O 2max (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Baseline measurements of the diameter and the blood flow volume of the brachial artery were similar in both groups. During reactive hyperemia period, the percent of the changes of endothelial diameters and flow were significantly higher in athletes than in controls. Higher flowmediated dilatation levels in athletes reflect better vascular adaptation to habitual aerobic exercise.endothelium; athlete; exercise; nitric oxide

Age and cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with arterial stiffening and left ventricular remodelling

“…27 A third possibility is that higher cardiorespiratory fitness may act to maintain endotheliumdependent vasodilation with age, as previously reported. 28 LV structure LV wall thickness increases with age not only in individuals with hypertension but also in normotensive adults. 4 Moreover, physiological hypertrophy ('the athlete's heart'), characterized by an increase in LV chamber size and mass, is observed in adults with a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness.…”

Effects of training on postprandial flow mediated dilation.

“…These findings are supported by several studies that found that baseline brachial artery diameter was not altered after the consumption of a single HFM 29,65,81,102 or after exercise training 47 .…”

“…Our findings are supported by research that has shown that endothelium-dependent vasodilation was not different regardless of training status in healthy, young men 18 . However, the data on the influence of training on FMD is mixed as another cross sectional study has found that young male runners demonstrated significantly greater FMD (≈ 35%) compared to young, sedentary males (17.1 ± 2.3% vs. 11.2 ± 1.7%, runners vs. sedentary, respectively, p = 0.002) 47 .…”

“…Exercise-induced increases in blood flow and subsequent shear stress on the vessel wall may result in mechanical alteration of the endothelium promoting NOS up regulation 47 , 11 . The gene expression of NOS has been found to be increased following chronic exercise 106 .…”

Comparison of the Predictors for Atrial Rhythm Disturbances between Trained Athletes and Control Subjects

“…The athlete's heart has been shown to be associated with rhythm and conduction alterations, QRS voltage changes caused by ventricular hypertrophy, and repolarization abnormalities, as a consequence of morphologic and physiological cardiac adaptation that occurs with regular physical training (Huston et al 1985;Kasikcioglu et al 2005). In contrast, we have recently showed that QT interval duration and dispersion is not different in trained athletes and control subjects (Turkmen et al 2004).…”