Training improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation in resistance vessels of patients with heart failure

Katz, Stuart D., Jeannette Yuen, Rachel Bijou, and Thierry H. LeJemtel. Training improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation in resistance vessels of patients with heart failure. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(5): 1488–1492, 1997.—The effects of physical training on endothelium-dependent vasodilation in skeletal muscle resistance vessels were investigated in patients with heart failure. Forearm blood flows (ml ⋅ min −1 ⋅ 100 ml −1 ) in response to brachial arterial administration of acetylcholine (5 × 10 −5 and 5 × 10 −4 M at 1 ml/min) and nitroglycerin (5 × 10 −6 and 5 × 10 −5 M at 1 ml/min) were determined by strain-gauge venous occlusion plethysmography before and after 8 wk of daily handgrip exercise in 12 patients with chronic heart failure. After 8 wk of daily handgrip exercise, the vasodilatory responses to acetylcholine significantly increased from pretraining values, i.e., 16.6 ± 2.0 vs. 8.6 ± 1.3 ml ⋅ min −1 ⋅ 100 ml −1 ( P < 0.05) and 27.5 ± 1.5 vs. 14.6 ± 1.7 ml ⋅ min −1 ⋅ 100 ml −1 ( P < 0.05), respect- ively, whereas the vasodilatory responses to nitroglycerin did not change. Handgrip exercise training appears to specifically enhance endothelium-dependent vasodilation in the forearm skeletal muscle circulation of patients with heart failure.