Acute Effects of Low-Intensity Electrical Stimulation on Segmental Arterial Stiffness

Figures

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  FIGURE 1. Time course of the experimental protocol. CT, control resting trial; ET, electrical stimulation trial; Pre, pre-experiment; Post 1, 5 min post-experiment; Post 2, 30 min post-experiment; CAVI, cardio-ankle vascular index; PWV, pulse wave velocity. All subjects performed each condition in random order on different days.

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  FIGURE 2. Temporal changes in pulse rate (A) and blood lactate (B). Filled circles (•), control resting trial; open circles (○), electrical stimulation trial. Other abbreviations are the same as in Figure 1. ∗p < 0.01 vs. CT; †p < 0.01 vs. baseline. Data are given as mean ± SD.

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  FIGURE 3. Temporal changes in respiratory parameters. Filled circles (•), control resting trial; open circles (○), electrical stimulation trial; V・ O2, oxygen uptake; V・ CO2, carbon dioxide output; V・ E, minute expired ventilation; RER, respiratory exchange ratio; Baseline, before each trial. Other abbreviations are the same as in Figure 1. ∗p < 0.01 vs. CT; †p < 0.01 vs. baseline. Data are given as mean ± SD.

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  FIGURE 4. Temporal changes in arterial stiffness parameters. CAVI (A), CAVI0 (B), haPWV (C), baPWV (D), hbPWV (E), and cfPWV (F) are shown. Filled circles (•), control resting trial; open circles (○), electrical stimulation trial; CAVI, cardio-ankle vascular index; CAVI0, cardio-ankle vascular index 0; haPWV, heart-ankle pulse wave velocity; baPWV, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity; hbPWV, heart-brachial pulse wave velocity; cfPWV, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity. Other abbreviations are the same as in Figure 1. ∗p < 0.01 vs. CT; †p < 0.01 vs. Pre. Data are given as mean ± SD.

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  FIGURE 5. Comparisons of change in arterial stiffness between CT and ET. Box-and-whisker plots indicate that the horizontal bar within the box denotes the median value. The top and bottom borders of the box mark the 75th and 25th percentiles. The ends of the whiskers are drawn to the minimum and maximum points. Filled squares (■) and open circles (○) show mean value and personal values, respectively. CT, control resting trial; ET, electrical stimulation trial. Abbreviations for arterial stiffness parameters are the same as in Figure 4. ∗p < 0.01 vs. CT.

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  FIGURE 6. Temporal changes in arm and ankle blood pressure. Arm systolic (A), diastolic (B), and mean (C) blood pressure and ankle systolic (D), diastolic (E), and mean (F) blood pressure are drawn. Filled circles (•), control resting trial; open circles (○), electrical stimulation trial; Data are expressed as mean ± SD. ∗p < 0.05: vs. Pre, ∗∗p < 0.01: vs. Pre, †p < 0.05: vs. Post 1, ††p < 0.01: vs. Post 1, #p < 0.05: vs. CT, ##p < 0.01: vs. CT.