scholarly journals Role of α1-adrenergic vasoconstriction in the regulation of skeletal muscle blood flow with advancing age

2009 ◽  
Vol 296 (2) ◽  
pp. H497-H504 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Walter Wray ◽  
Steven K. Nishiyama ◽  
Russell S. Richardson

α1-Adrenergic vasoconstriction during dynamic leg exercise is diminished in younger individuals, although the extent of this exercise-induced “sympatholysis” in the elderly remains uncertain. Thus, in nine young (25 ± 1 yr) and six older (72 ± 2 yr) healthy volunteers, we evaluated changes in leg blood flow (ultrasound Doppler) during blood flow-adjusted intra-arterial infusion of phenylephrine (PE; a selective α1-adrenergic agonist) at rest and during knee-extensor leg exercise at 20, 40, and 60% of maximal work rate (WRmax). To probe the potential contributors to exercise-induced changes in α1-adrenergic receptor sensitivity, exercising leg O2 consumption (V̇o2) and lactate efflux were also evaluated ( n = 10). At rest, the PE-induced vasoconstriction (i.e., decrease in leg blood flow) was diminished in older (−37 ± 3%) compared with young (−54 ± 4%) subjects. During exercise, the magnitude of α1-adrenergic vasoconstriction in the active leg decreased in both groups. However, compared with young, older subjects maintained a greater vasoconstrictor response to PE at 40% WRmax (−14 ± 3%, older; −7 ± 2%, young) and 60% WRmax (−11 ± 3%, older; −4 ± 3%, young). It is possible that this observation may be attributed to lower absolute work rates in the older group, because, for a similar absolute work rate (≈10 W) and leg V̇o2 (≈0.36 l/min), vasoconstriction to PE was not different between groups (−14 ± 3%; older; −17 ± 5%, young). Together, these data challenge the concept of reduced sympatholysis in the elderly, suggesting instead that the inhibition of α1-adrenergic vasoconstriction in the exercising leg is associated with work performed and, therefore, more closely related to the rate of oxidative metabolism than to age per se.

2013 ◽  
Vol 304 (1) ◽  
pp. H162-H169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Barrett-O'Keefe ◽  
Stephen J. Ives ◽  
Joel D. Trinity ◽  
Garrett Morgan ◽  
Matthew J. Rossman ◽  
...  

The cardiovascular response to exercise is governed by a combination of vasodilating and vasoconstricting influences that optimize exercising muscle perfusion while protecting mean arterial pressure (MAP). The degree to which endogenous endothelin (ET)-1, the body's most potent vasoconstrictor, participates in this response is unknown. Thus, in eight young (24 ± 2 yr), healthy volunteers, we examined leg blood flow, MAP, tissue oxygenation, heart rate, leg arterial-venous O2 difference, leg O2 consumption, pH, and net ET-1 and lactate release at rest and during knee extensor exercise (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 W) before and after an intra-arterial infusion of BQ-123 [ET subtype A (ETA) receptor antagonist]. At rest, BQ-123 did not evoke a change in leg blood flow or MAP. During exercise, net ET-1 release across the exercising leg increased approximately threefold. BQ-123 increased leg blood flow by ∼20% across all work rates (changes of 113 ± 76, 176 ± 83, 304 ± 108, 364 ± 130, 502 ± 117, and 570 ± 178 ml/min at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 W, respectively) and attenuated the exercise-induced increase in MAP by ∼6%. The increase in leg blood flow was accompanied by a ∼9% increase in leg O2 consumption with an unchanged arterial-venous O2 difference and deoxyhemoglobin, suggesting a decline in intramuscular efficiency after ETA receptor blockade. Together, these findings identify a significant role of the ET-1 pathway in the cardiovascular response to exercise, implicating vasoconstriction via the ETA receptor as an important mechanism for both the restraint of blood flow in the exercising limb and maintenance of MAP in healthy, young adults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 658-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon W. Senefeld ◽  
Jacqueline K. Limberg ◽  
Kathleen M. Lukaszewicz ◽  
Sandra K. Hunter

The aim of this study was to compare fatigability, contractile function, and blood flow to the knee extensor muscles after dynamic exercise in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and controls. The hypotheses were that patients with T2DM would demonstrate greater fatigability than controls, and greater fatigability would be associated with a lower exercise-induced increase in blood flow and greater impairments in contractile function. Patients with T2DM ( n = 15; 8 men; 62.4 ± 9.0 yr; 30.4 ± 7.7 kg/m2; 7,144 ± 3,294 steps/day) and 15 healthy control subjects (8 men, 58.4 ± 6.9 yr; 28.4 ± 4.6 kg/m2; 7,893 ± 2,323 steps/day) were matched for age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity. Fatigability was quantified as the reduction in knee extensor power during a 6-min dynamic exercise. Before and after exercise, vascular ultrasonography and electrical stimulation were used to assess skeletal muscle blood flow and contractile properties, respectively. Patients with T2DM had greater fatigability (30.0 ± 20.1% vs. 14.6 ± 19.0%, P < 0.001) and lower exercise-induced hyperemia (177 ± 90% vs. 194 ± 79%, P = 0.04) than controls but similar reductions in the electrically evoked twitch amplitude (37.6 ± 24.8% vs. 31.6 ± 30.1%, P = 0.98). Greater fatigability of the knee extensor muscles was associated with postexercise reductions in twitch amplitude ( r = 0.64, P = 0.001) and lesser exercise-induced hyperemia ( r = −0.56, P = 0.009). Patients with T2DM had greater lower-limb fatigability during dynamic exercise, which was associated with reduced contractile function and lower skeletal muscle blood flow. Thus, treatments focused on enhancing perfusion and reversing impairments in contractile function in patients with T2DM may offset lower-limb fatigability and aid in increasing exercise capacity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although prior studies compare patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with lean controls, our study includes controls matched for age, body mass, and physical activity to more closely assess the effects of T2DM. Patients with T2DM demonstrated no impairment in macrovascular endothelial function, evidenced by similar flow-mediated dilation to controls. However, patients with T2DM had greater fatigability and reduced exercise-induced increase in blood flow (hyperemia) after a lower-limb dynamic fatiguing exercise compared with controls.


1988 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Hughson

1. The blood flow in the forearm and the calf of six healthy volunteers was measured at rest and after exercise by impedance plethysmography using pulsatile (QZp) and venous occlusion (QZocc) methods, and by venous occlusion strain gauge plethysmography (Qsg). 2. At rest, the impedance QZp method gave values slightly higher than those of Qsg. In the forearm, the ratio QZp to Qsg was 1.26 in the supine position and 1.97 in the upright sitting position. For the calf muscle, the ratios were 1.08 in the supine position and 1.23 in the upright position. 3. Immediately after exercise, Qsg increased from resting values of approximately 2–4 ml min−1 100 ml−1 to mean values of 16–25 ml min−1 100 ml−1 in upright and supine arm or leg exercise. In contrast, the QZp values after exercise increased to only 3.1–4.6 ml min−1 100 ml−1. QZocc likewise failed to show increases in flow except in the supine leg exercise, where flow increased to 8.7 ml min−1 100 ml−1. 4. In an additional subject, it was shown that electrode position had no significant effect on the QZp blood flow measurement after exercise. 5. The failure of QZp to accurately follow the change in Qsg with exercise was probably due in part to pulsatile venous outflow. In addition, changes in microvessel packed cell volume and shear rate may influence the observed QZp. It is concluded that impedance plethysmography is not valid for estimation of limb blood flow during reactive hyperaemia after exercise.


1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 1070-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Sullivan ◽  
F. R. Cobb

We examined the central hemodynamic (n = 5) and leg blood flow (n = 9) responses to one- and two-leg bicycle exercise in nine ambulatory patients with chronic heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction 17 +/- 9%). During peak one- vs. two-leg exercise, leg blood flow (thermodilution) tended to be higher (1.99 +/- 0.91 vs. 1.67 +/- 0.91 l/min, P = 0.07), whereas femoral arteriovenous oxygen difference was lower (13.6 +/- 3.1 vs. 15.0 +/- 2.9 ml/dl, P less than 0.01). Comparison of data from exercise stages matched for single-leg work rate during one- vs. two-leg exercise demonstrated that cardiac output was similar while both oxygen consumption and central arteriovenous oxygen differences were lower, indicating relative improvement in the cardiac output response at a given single-leg work rate during one-leg exercise. This was accompanied by higher leg blood flow (1.56 +/- 0.76 vs. 1.83 +/- 0.72 l/min, P = 0.02) and a tendency for leg vascular resistance to be lower (92 +/- 54 vs. 80 +/- 48 Torr.l-1.min, P = 0.08) without any change in blood lactate. These data indicate that, in patients with chronic heart failure, leg vasomotor tone is dynamically regulated, independent of skeletal muscle metabolism, and is not determined solely by intrinsic abnormalities in skeletal muscle vasodilator capacity. Our results suggest that relative improvements in central cardiac function may lead to a reflex release of skeletal muscle vasoconstrictor tone in this disorder.


2012 ◽  
Vol 113 (12) ◽  
pp. 1846-1851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Barrett-O'Keefe ◽  
Jan Helgerud ◽  
Peter D. Wagner ◽  
Russell S. Richardson

Maximal strength training (MST) reduces pulmonary oxygen uptake (V̇o2) at a given submaximal exercise work rate (i.e., efficiency). However, whether the increase in efficiency originates in the trained skeletal muscle, and therefore the impact of this adaptation on muscle blood flow and arterial-venous oxygen difference (a-vO2diff), is unknown. Thus five trained subjects partook in an 8-wk MST intervention consisting of half-squats with an emphasis on the rate of force development during the concentric phase of the movement. Pre- and posttraining measurements of pulmonary V̇o2 (indirect calorimetry), single-leg blood flow (thermodilution), and single-leg a-vO2diff (blood gases) were performed, to allow the assessment of skeletal muscle V̇o2 during submaximal cycling [237 ± 23 W; ∼60% of their peak pulmonary V̇o2 (V̇o2peak)]. Pulmonary V̇o2peak (∼4.05 l/min) and peak work rate (∼355 W), assessed during a graded exercise test, were unaffected by MST. As expected, following MST there was a significant reduction in pulmonary V̇o2 during steady-state submaximal cycling (∼237 W: 3.2 ± 0.1 to 2.9 ± 0.1 l/min). This was accompanied by a significant reduction in single-leg V̇o2 (1,101 ± 105 to 935 ± 93 ml/min) and single-leg blood flow (6,670 ± 700 to 5,649 ± 641 ml/min), but no change in single-leg a-vO2diff (16.7 ± 0.8 to 16.8 ±0.4 ml/dl). These data confirm an MST-induced reduction in pulmonary V̇o2 during submaximal exercise and identify that this change in efficiency originates solely in skeletal muscle, reducing muscle blood flow, but not altering muscle a-vO2diff.


2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (4) ◽  
pp. H2550-H2556 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Walter Wray ◽  
Steven K. Nishiyama ◽  
Anthony J. Donato ◽  
Mikael Sander ◽  
Peter D. Wagner ◽  
...  

It is now generally accepted that α-adrenoreceptor-mediated vasoconstriction is attenuated during exercise, but the efficacy of nonadrenergic vasoconstrictor pathways during exercise remains unclear. Thus, in eight young (23 ± 1 yr), healthy volunteers, we contrasted changes in leg blood flow (ultrasound Doppler) before and during intra-arterial infusion of the α1-adrenoreceptor agonist phenylephrine (PE) with that of the nonadrenergic endothelin A (ETA)/ETB receptor agonist ET-1. Heart rate, arterial blood pressure, common femoral artery diameter, and mean blood velocity were measured at rest and during knee-extensor exercise at 20%, 40%, and 60% of maximal work rate (WRmax). Drug infusion rates were adjusted for blood flow to maintain comparable doses across all subjects and conditions. At rest, PE infusion (8 ng·ml−1·min−1) provoked a rapid and significant decrease in leg blood flow (−51 ± 3%) within 2.5 min. Resting ET-1 infusion (40 pg·ml−1·min−1) significantly decreased leg blood flow within 5 min, reaching a maximal vasoconstriction (−34 ± 3%) after 25–30 min of continuous infusion. Compared with rest, an exercise intensity-dependent attenuation to PE-mediated vasoconstriction was observed (−18 ± 5%, −7 ± 2%, and −1 ± 3% change in leg blood flow at 20%, 40%, and 60% of WRmax, respectively). Vasoconstriction in response to ET-1 was also blunted in an exercise intensity-dependent manner (−13 ± 3%, −7 ± 4%, and 2 ± 3% change in leg blood flow at 20%, 40%, and 60% of WRmax, respectively). These findings support a significant contribution of ET-1 and α-adrenergic receptors in the regulation of skeletal muscle blood flow in the human leg at rest and suggest a similar, intensity-dependent “lysis” of peripheral ET and α-adrenergic vasoconstriction during dynamic exercise.


Author(s):  
Bryan Thomas Haddock ◽  
Sofie Krarup Hansen ◽  
Ulrich Lindberg ◽  
Jakob Lindberg Nielsen ◽  
Ulrik Frandsen ◽  
...  

Aim: MRI can provide fundamental tools in decoding physiological stressors stimulated by training paradigms. Acute physiological changes induced by three diverse exercise protocols known to elicit similar levels of muscle hypertrophy were evaluated using muscle functional magnetic resonance imaging (mfMRI). Methods: The study was a cross-over study with participants (n=10) performing three acute unilateral knee extensor exercise protocols to failure and a work matched control exercise protocol. Participants were scanned after each exercise protocol; 70% 1 repetition maximum (RM) (FF70); 20% 1RM (FF20); 20% 1RM with blood flow restriction (BFR20); free-flow (FF) control work matched to BFR20 (FF20WM). Post exercise mfMRI scans were used to obtain interleaved measures of muscle R2 (indicator of edema), R2' (indicator of deoxyhemoglobin), muscle cross sectional area (CSA) blood flow and diffusion. Results: Both BFR20 and FF20 exercise resulted in a larger acute decrease in R2, decrease in R2', and expansion of the extracellular compartment with slower rates of recovery. BFR20 caused greater acute increases in muscle CSA than FF20WM and FF70. Only BFR20 caused acute increases in intracellular volume. Post-exercise muscle blood flow was higher after FF70 and FF20 exercise than BFR20. Acute changes in mean diffusivity were similar across all exercise protocols. Conclusion: This study was able to differentiate the acute physiological responses between anabolic exercise protocols. Low-load exercise protocols, known to have relatively higher energy contributions from glycolysis at task failure, elicited a higher mfMRI response. Noninvasive mfMRI represents a promising tool for decoding mechanisms of anabolic adaptation in muscle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Varghese ◽  
Debbie Scandling ◽  
Chikako Ono ◽  
Ashish Aneja ◽  
William A Kay ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2619-2627 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Proctor ◽  
Jordan D. Miller ◽  
Niki M. Dietz ◽  
Christopher T. Minson ◽  
Michael J. Joyner

This study evaluated the hypothesis that active muscle blood flow is lower during exercise at a given submaximal power output after aerobic conditioning as a result of unchanged cardiac output and blunted splanchnic vasoconstriction. Eight untrained subjects (4 men, 4 women, 23–31 yr) performed high-intensity aerobic training for 9–12 wk. Leg blood flow (femoral vein thermodilution), splanchnic blood flow (indocyanine green clearance), cardiac output (acetylene rebreathing), whole body O2 uptake (V˙o 2), and arterial-venous blood gases were measured before and after training at identical submaximal power outputs (70 and 140 W; upright 2-leg cycling). Training increased ( P < 0.05) peak V˙o 2(12–36%) but did not significantly change submaximalV˙o 2 or cardiac output. Leg blood flow during both submaximal power outputs averaged 18% lower after training ( P = 0.001; n = 7), but these reductions were not correlated with changes in splanchnic vasoconstriction. Submaximal leg V˙o 2 was also lower after training. These findings support the hypothesis that aerobic training reduces active muscle blood flow at a given submaximal power output. However, changes in leg and splanchnic blood flow resulting from high-intensity training may not be causally linked.


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