Summary
The data presented in this paper are extracted from a series of studies undertaken to evaluate the effect of short term β-blockade on performance characteristics in healthy young men and patients with essential hypertension. The short term effect of β1 + β2-blocker (non-selective) and β1-blocker (selective) administration has been studied with respect to the impaired performance of an endurance-type exercise, jogging. It was shown that the depression of exercise tachycardia was approximately the same for propranolol (non-selective) and atenolol (selective), but the effect was more pronounced in subjects whose muscles were rich in slow-twitch fibres. Jogging performance was reduced by atenolol to approximately the same percentage (10–15%) irrespective of fibre types, whereas propranolol caused a more marked impairment (25–30%) in those muscles rich in slow-twitch muscle fibres, as indicated by the regression lines. It is suggested that this depends on heightened sensitivity to sympathetic nervous stimulation in those subjects with muscle rich in slow-twitch fibres. This sensitivity might be dependent on heredity as well as on endurance training, or both.
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Karlsson, J. Muscle Fibre Composition, Short Term β1- + β2- and β1-Blockade and Endurance Exercise Performance in Healthy Young Men. Drugs 25 (Suppl 2), 241–246 (1983). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-198300252-00069
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-198300252-00069