Markedly improved skeletal muscle function with local muscle training in patients with chronic heart failure

Chronic heart failure (CHF) reduces muscle blood flow at rest and during exercise and impairs muscle function. Using intravital microscopy techniques, we tested the hypothesis that the speed and amplitude of the capillary red blood cell (RBC) velocity ( VRBC) and flux (FRBC) response to contractions would be reduced in CHF compared with control (C) spinotrapezius muscle. The proportion of capillaries supporting continuous RBC flow was less ( P < 0.05) in CHF (0.66 ± 0.04) compared with C (0.84 ± 0.01) muscle at rest and was not significantly altered with contractions. At rest, VRBC (C, 270 ± 62; CHF, 179 ± 14 μm/s) and FRBC (C, 22.4 ± 5.5 vs. CHF, 15.2 ± 1.2 RBCs/s) were reduced (both P < 0.05) in CHF vs. C muscle. Contractions significantly (both P < 0.05) elevated VRBC (C, 428 ± 47 vs. CHF, 222 ± 15 μm/s) and FRBC (C, 44.3 ± 5.5 vs. CHF, 24.0 ± 1.2 RBCs/s) in C and CHF muscle; however, both remained significantly lower in CHF than C. The time to 50% of the final response was slowed (both P < 0.05) in CHF compared with C for both VRBC (C, 8 ± 4; CHF, 56 ± 11 s) and FRBC (C, 11 ± 3; CHF, 65 ± 11 s). Capillary hematocrit increased with contractions in C and CHF muscle but was not different ( P > 0.05) between CHF and C. Thus CHF impairs diffusive and conductive O2 delivery across the rest-to-contractions transition in rat skeletal muscle, which may help explain the slowed O2 uptake on-kinetics manifested in CHF patients at exercise onset.

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Effects of moderate heart failure and functional overload on rat plantaris muscle

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/jappl.2002.92.1.18 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 92 (1) ◽

pp. 18-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Espen E. Spangenburg ◽

Simon J. Lees ◽

Jeff S. Otis ◽

Timothy I. Musch ◽

Robert J. Talmadge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Failure ◽

Skeletal Muscle ◽

Exercise Training ◽

Muscle Function ◽

Skeletal Muscle Function ◽

Moderate Heart Failure ◽

Plasmic Reticulum ◽

Uptake Rates ◽

Isoform Expression ◽

And Control

It is thought that changes in sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) of skeletal muscle contribute to alterations in skeletal muscle function during congestive heart failure (CHF). It is well established that exercise training can improve muscle function. However, it is unclear whether similar adaptations will result from exercise training in a CHF patient. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether skeletal muscle during moderate CHF adapts to increased activity, utilizing the functional overload (FO) model. Significant increases in plantaris mass of the CHF-FO and sham-FO groups compared with the CHF and control (sham) groups were observed. Ca2+ uptake rates were significantly elevated in the CHF group compared with all other groups. No differences were detected in Ca2+ uptake rates between the CHF-FO, sham, and sham-FO groups. Increases in Ca2+ uptake rates in moderate-CHF rats were not due to changes in SERCA isoform proportions; however, FO may have attenuated the CHF-induced increases through alterations in SERCA isoform expression. Therefore, changes in skeletal muscle Ca2+handling during moderate CHF may be due to alterations in regulatory mechanisms, which exercise may override, by possibly altering SERCA isoform expression.

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