Hypoxic preconditioning attenuates ischemia-reperfusion injury in young healthy adults
Ischemic preconditioning attenuates the reduction in brachial artery endothelial function following an ischemia-reperfusion injury. Brief bouts of systemic hypoxemia could similarly mitigate the blunted vasodilatory response induced by an ischemia-reperfusion injury. AIM: To determine whether an acute bout of intermittent hypoxia protects against an ischemia-reperfusion injury in young healthy individuals. METHODS: Brachial artery endothelial function was assessed by flow-mediated dilation in 16 young healthy individuals before and after a 20-minute blood flow occlusion to induce ischemia-reperfusion injury. Blood flow occlusion was preceded by either intermittent hypoxia or intermittent normoxia. Intermittent hypoxia consisted of three 4-minute hypoxic cycles at a targeted arterial oxygen saturation of 90% separated by 4-minute normoxic cycles. RESULTS: Intermittent hypoxia resulted in a lower arterial oxygen saturation (Hypoxia: 87±3 vs. Normoxia: 99±1%, p<0.01), which was equivalent to a lower fraction of inspired oxygen (Hypoxia: 0.123±0.013, Normoxia: 0.210±0.003, p<0.01). When preceded by intermittent normoxia, blood flow occlusion resulted in a blunted flow-mediated dilation. In contrast, the reduction in flow-mediated dilation following blood flow occlusion was attenuated by prior exposure to intermittent hypoxia (Hypoxia: 6.4±1.9 to 4.4±2.3, Normoxia: 7.1±2.5 to 4.0±2.4%, time x condition interaction p=0.048). Exposure to intermittent hypoxia did not affect mean arterial pressure (Hypoxia: 92±9, Normoxia: 89±8 mmHg, p=0.19) or cardiac output (Hypoxia: 5.8±1.1, Normoxia: 5.3±1.1 L·min-1, p=0.29). CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxic preconditioning attenuates the reduction in flow-mediated dilation induced by blood flow occlusion in young healthy individuals. Intermittent hypoxia represents a potential strategy to mitigate the effect of ischemia-reperfusion injury associated with ischemic events.