Decreased vascular sensitivity to norepinephrine following exercise training

Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats (230 +/- 9 g; mean +/- SE) were exercised daily for 6 wk by swimming 1 h/day with weights (5% of body wt) attached to their tails. Nineteen additional rats (237 +/- 8 g) remained sedentary in their cages. All animals were anesthetized with urethan (800 mg/kg) and alpha-chloralose (60 mg/kg). In the first series of experiments, increasing doses of norepinephrine were injected into the jugular vein and the responses in mean arterial blood pressure was recorded from a cannulated femoral artery. Exercise training had no effect on the maximal increase in blood pressure, but significantly decreased blood pressure sensitivity to norepinephrine, expressed as a pD2 value (=-log ED 50), from 5.64 +/- 0.07 to 5.20 +/- 0.06. In the second series, the cremaster muscle with intact circulation and innervation was suspended in a tissue bath and norepinephrine in increasing concentrations was added to the cremaster bath. The responses of the main arteriole (approximately 110 micron) and venule (approximately 170 micron) were recorded by television microscopy. Exercise training had no effect on vessel diameters of resting muscle or on the maximal vessel constrictions obtained in response to high concentrations of norepinephrine. Arteriole sensitivity to norepinephrine was significantly decreased (pD2 of 6.69 +/- 0.24 vs. 5.96 +/- 0.18) and there was some tendency for reduced venule sensitivity. These data suggest that exercise training in rats produces a decrease in alpha- or an increase in beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity.