Effects of intense exercise training on endothelium‐dependent exercise‐induced vasodilatation

Abstract

To determine whether intense exercise training affects exercise-induced vasodilatation, six subjects underwent 4 weeks of handgrip training at 70% of maximal voluntary contraction. Exercise forearm vascular conductance (FVC) responses to an endothelium-dependent vasodilator (acetylcholine, ACH; 15, 30, 60 μg min⁻¹) and an endothelium-independent vasodilator (sodium nitroprusside, SNP; 1·6, 3·2, 6·4 μg min⁻¹) and FVC after 10 min of forearm ischaemia were determined before and after training. Training elicited significant (PP0·4), but exercise FVC increased (0·1330 ± 0·0190 vs. 0.2534 ± 0·0387 units, PP0·6). These results suggest that exercise FVC is increased by both exercise training and stimulating the release of endothelium-dependent vasodilators. However, training does not affect the vascular response to these vasodilators.