Passive leg movement (PLM) evokes a robust and predominantly nitric oxide (NO)-mediated increase in blood flow that declines with age and disease. Consequently, PLM is becoming increasingly accepted as a sensitive assessment of endothelium-mediated vascular function. However, a substantial PLM-induced hyperemic response is still evoked despite NO synthase (NOS) inhibition. Therefore, in 9 young healthy men (25±4 yrs), this investigation aimed to determine if the combination of two potent endothelium-dependent vasodilators, specifically prostaglandin (PG) and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF), account for the remaining hyperemic response to the two variants of PLM, PLM (60 movements) and single PLM (sPLM, 1 movement) when NOS is inhibited. The leg blood flow (LBF, Doppler ultrasound) response to PLM and sPLM following the intra-arterial infusion of NG-monomethyl L-arginine (L-NMMA), to inhibit NOS, was compared to the combined inhibition of NOS, cyclooxygenase (COX), and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) by L-NMMA, ketorolac tromethamine (KET), and fluconazole (FLUC), respectively. NOS inhibition attenuated the overall LBF (LBFAUC) response to both PLM (control: 456±194, L-NMMA: 168±127 ml, p<0.01) and sPLM (control: 185±171, L-NMMA: 62±31 ml, p=0.03). The combined inhibition of NOS, COX, and CYP450 (i.e. L-NMMA+KET+FLUC) did not further attenuate the hyperemic responses to PLM (LBFAUC: 271±97 ml, p>0.05) or sPLM (LBFAUC: 72±45 ml, p>0.05). Therefore, PG and EDHF do not collectively contribute to the non-NOS-derived NO-mediated, endothelium-dependent, hyperemic response to either PLM or sPLM in healthy young men. These findings add to the mounting evidence and understanding of the vasodilatory pathways assessed by the PLM and sPLM vascular function tests.
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