Physical conditioning decreases norepinephrine-induced vasoconstriction in rabbits. Possible roles of norepinephrine-evoked endothelium-derived relaxing factor.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity can reduce sympathetic tone and may be beneficial to human health. Whether the vascular responses to norepinephrine (NE), an adrenergic vasoconstrictor, could be altered by chronic exercise was unclear. We therefore conducted this study to investigate the effects of endurance exercise training on NE-induced vasoconstrictive response in healthy rabbits. Possible mechanisms were also studied. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-four male New Zealand White rabbits were used for this study. They were divided into two groups: control and training. The training group was trained on a treadmill with running speed of 0.88 km/h at a 0 degree grade for 10 to 60 minutes per day, for 5 days a week for a total of 8 weeks. At the end of the experiments, thoracic aortae (3 mm long) were isolated. The vascular tension was measured with a force transducer. The dose-response relation of NE-induced vasoconstriction was determined and compared for control (n = 5) and trained (n = 6) groups. To verify the possible involvement of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) in the alteration of NE-induced vasoconstriction after exercise training, we compared the vascular responses to NE in endothelium-intact, N omega-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 10(-4) mol/L)-pretreated, or denuded vessel segments (n = 4 for each experiment of each group). EDRF release in the presence or absence of NE was also evaluated by the increased tension induced by hemoglobin (10(-5) mol/L), an EDRF scavenger (n = 6 for the control group and n = 8 for the trained group). In addition, vascular responses to some specific adrenergic agonists (ie, phenylephrine, an alpha 1-agonist, and clonidine, an alpha 2-agonist) were also studied to see if a specific adrenergic receptor was involved (n = 4 for each experiment of each group). Our results indicated that (1) NEED50 of the thoracic aorta was elevated by exercise training; (2) in the presence of NE, EDRF release from the thoracic aorta, assessed by addition of hemoglobin or L-NNA, was higher in the trained group than in the control group; (3) both phenylephrine (10(-8) mol/L) and clonidine (10(-6) mol/L) could evoke vasorelaxation that would be inhibited by L-NNA; and (4) in addition to causing vasoconstriction, NE could stimulate EDRF release, possibly via alpha 1- and alpha 2-receptors of endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that exercise training may decrease NE-induced vasoconstrictive response and may increase NE-stimulated EDRF release.