These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Enhanced vasodilation to acetylcholine in athletes is associated with lower plasma cholesterol.
    Author: Kingwell BA, Tran B, Cameron JD, Jennings GL, Dart AM.
    Journal: Am J Physiol; 1996 Jun; 270(6 Pt 2):H2008-13. PubMed ID: 8764251.
    Abstract:
    We investigated a change in vascular reactivity as a potential adaptive mechanism to chronic exercise. The study consisted of 2 separate protocols with 10 male athletes and 10 age-matched sedentary male control subjects participating in each. Protocol 1 investigated forearm blood flow responses to intra-arterial infusions of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside by use of venous occlusion plethysmography. Protocol 2 used identical techniques to study responses to norepinephrine, angiotensin II (ANG II), and NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA). The percent reduction in forearm vascular resistance to acetylcholine was significantly greater in the athletic compared with the sedentary group (multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures, P = 0.03). Covariance analysis suggested that the lower total cholesterol level of the athletic group (P = 0.03) may contribute to their enhanced responsiveness to acetylcholine. There were no differences between athletic and sedentary groups in the forearm vascular resistance responses to norepinephrine, ANG II, sodium nitroprusside, or L-NMMA. These data support the hypothesis that long-term endurance training is associated with enhanced endothelium-dependent dilator reserve due to altered lipoprotein levels in athletes. This finding may have therapeutic application in conditions of elevated cholesterol and impaired vasodilator capacity including hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, and cardiac failure.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]