The remote and local effects of ischaemic preconditioning on vascular function; a case for cumulative benefit

Brief, repeated cycles of limb ischemia and reperfusion [ischemic preconditioning (IPC)] can protect against vascular insult. Few papers have considered the effect of IPC on resting vascular function, and no single study has simultaneously considered the local (trained arm) and remote (untrained arm) effects of a single session of IPC and following repeated sessions. We determined macrovascular [allometrically scaled flow-mediated dilation (FMD)] and microvascular [cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC)] function in healthy adults before, immediately post, 20 min post, and 24 h post a single session of IPC (4 × 5 min of single arm ischemia). These outcomes also were remeasured 24 h after six IPC sessions, performed over 2 wk. FMD and CVC increased in both arms 20 min post [FMD mean difference (MD) 1.1%,