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Short-term increases in pressure and shear stress attenuate age-related declines in endothelial function in skeletal muscle feed arteries

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Abstract

Purpose

We tested the hypothesis that exposure to a short-term (1 h) increase in intraluminal pressure and shear stress (SS), to mimic two mechanical signals associated with a bout of exercise, improves nitric oxide (NO)-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation in aged soleus muscle feed arteries (SFA). In addition, we hypothesized that pressure and SS would interact to produce greater improvements in endothelial function than pressure alone.

Methods

SFA from young (4 months) and old (24 months) Fischer 344 rats were cannulated and pressurized at 90 (P90) or 130 (P130) cmH2O and exposed to no SS (0 dyn/cm2) or high SS (~65 dyn/cm2) for 1 h. At the end of the 1 h treatment period, pressure in all P130 SFA was set to 90 cmH2O and no SS (0 dyn/cm2) for examination of endothelium-dependent [flow and acetylcholine (ACh)] and endothelium-independent [sodium nitroprusside (SNP)] dilation. To evaluate the contribution of NO, vasodilator responses were assessed in the presence of Nω-nitro- l -arginine (L-NNA).

Results

Flow- and ACh-induced dilations were impaired in Old P90 SFA. Treatment with increased pressure + SS for 1 h improved flow- and ACh-induced dilations in old SFA. The beneficial effect of pressure + SS was abolished in the presence of L-NNA and was not greater than treatment with increased pressure alone.

Conclusion

These results indicate that short-duration increases in pressure + SS improve NO-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation in aged SFA; however, pressure and SS do not interact to produce greater improvements in endothelial function than pressure alone.

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Abbreviations

ACh:

Acetylcholine

NIA:

National Institute on Aging

NO:

Nitric oxide

NOS:

Nitric oxide synthase

L-NNA:

N ω-nitro-l-arginine

PSS:

Physiological saline solution

SNP:

Sodium nitroprusside

SFA:

Soleus muscle feed arteries

SS:

Shear stress

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by American Heart Association, South Central Affiliate Grants 0765043Y, 4150031 (CRW), a Texas A&M University College of Education and Human Development Strategic Research Award (JWS), a National Space Biomedical Research Institute pre-doctoral fellowship NCC 9-58 (JWS) and a Sydney and J.L. Huffines Institute of Sports Medicine and Human Performance Grant (JWS). The authors thank the Office for Biological Resources of NIA-NIH for allowing access to their Fischer 344 rat colony.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Kinesiology, MS 4243, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4243, USA

    John W. Seawright, Meredith Luttrell & Christopher R. Woodman

  2. Department of Medical Physiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Andreea Trache

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Andreea Trache

  4. Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Christopher R. Woodman

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  1. John W. Seawright
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  2. Meredith Luttrell
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  3. Andreea Trache
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  4. Christopher R. Woodman
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Correspondence to Christopher R. Woodman.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Communicated by David C. Poole.

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Seawright, J.W., Luttrell, M., Trache, A. et al. Short-term increases in pressure and shear stress attenuate age-related declines in endothelial function in skeletal muscle feed arteries. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 1305–1311 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3388-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3388-9

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