The relationship between arterial stiffness and maximal oxygen consumption in healthy young adults

Arterial Stiffness following Endurance and Resistance Exercise Sessions in Older Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Arterial stiffness (AS) is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). Acute endurance training decreases AS, whereas acute resistance training increases it. However, these results are from studies in apparently healthy adults, and there is no information on the effects of such afterload AS in elderly patients with CAD. We aimed to investigate the effect of acute endurance or resistance training on the time course of changes in the indices of AS in elderly patients with CAD in order to understand how stiffness responds after training. We tested 18 trained men with CAD. AS was measured using central and peripheral pulse wave velocity (PWV) after 15 min of rest and after 5, 15, and 30 min of endurance and resistance training sessions. The endurance session consisted of high-intensity interval walking at 85-90% of maximum heart rate, and the resistance session consisted of 70% of the maximum of one repetition. An interaction effect was found for central and peripheral PWV (p ≤ 0.001; carotid, η² = 0.72; aortic, η² = 0.90; femoral, η² = 0.74), which was due to an increase in PWV after resistance and a decrease in central and peripheral PWV after endurance. This study demonstrates that training mode influences the time course of AS responses to acute exercise in these patients. Acute endurance training decreased AS, whereas resistance training significantly increased it.

Vascular Function in Norwegian Female Elite Runners: A Cross-Sectional, Controlled Study

In general, aerobic exercise has a positive impact on the vascular system, but the syndrome of relative energy-deficiency in sports (RED-S) makes this impact less clear for the athlete. The present cross-sectional controlled study aimed to investigate the vascular function in female elite long-distance runners, compared to inactive women. Sixteen female elite long-distance runners and seventeen healthy controls were recruited. Assessments of vascular function and morphology included endothelial function, evaluated by flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), vascular stiffness, evaluated with pulse wave velocity (PWV), carotid artery reactivity (CAR %), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). Blood samples included hormone analyses, metabolic parameters, lipids, and biomarkers reflecting endothelial activation. RED-S risk was assessed through the low energy availability in female questionnaire (LEAF-Q), and body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). We found no significant differences in brachial FMD, PWV, CAR %, cIMT, or biomarkers reflecting endothelial activation between the two groups. Forty-four percent of the runners had a LEAF-Q score consistent with being at risk of RED-S. Runners showed significantly higher HDL-cholesterol and insulin sensitivity compared to controls. In conclusion, Norwegian female elite runners had an as good vascular function and morphology as inactive women of the same age.

Is individual day-to-day variation of arterial stiffness associated with variation of maximal aerobic performance?

Background

Maximal aerobic capacity, e.g. maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O₂max), is not constant, and it has a time-dependent variation based on the condition of individual. On the other hand, arterial properties play an important role in determining aerobic performance, and lower arterial stiffness is associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels. This study examined whether individual variations in maximal aerobic performance are associated with arterial stiffness.

Methods

Twenty-four (mean age, 19.8 ± 0.2 y) and 10 (mean age, 21.2 ± 0.2 y) recreationally active young men and women participated in Experiment 1 (Ex1) and in Experiment 2 (Ex2), respectively. Aerobic performance was assessed using a graded power test (Ex1) or a 1500-m time trial (Ex2). Simultaneously, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was measured as an index of arterial stiffness in both Ex1 and Ex2 before the exercise trials. In both experiments, subjects returned for measurement of baPWV and V̇O₂max or 1500-m time trial at 1 month after first measurements.

Results

No significant differences in mean baPWV, V̇O₂max or 1500-m run time were seen between first and second visits. Mean baPWV was significantly lower on days when participants showed higher V̇O₂max or better 1500-m run time (P = 0.001 each) than on days when participants showed lower V̇O₂max or worse 1500-m run time. In addition, a significant relationship was seen between individual changes in baPWV from first to second visits and changes in V̇O₂max (P=0.0001) or 1500-m run time (P=0.04).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that individual day-to-day variations in maximal aerobic performance are associated with variations in arterial stiffness.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13102-021-00231-1.

Changes of Differential Urinary Metabolites after High-Intensive Training in Teenage Football Players

Objective

The mechanism underlying the fatigue of football players is closely related to the energy depletion and accumulation of metabolites; the present study tries to explore the metabolic mechanism in teenage football players during exercise-induced fatigue.

Methods

12 teenage football players were subjected to three groups of combined training by using a cycle ergometer, with the subjective Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) as a fatigue criterion. The following indicators were measured in each group after training: maximum oxygen uptake (VO_2max), anaerobic power, and average anaerobic power. Urine samples were collected before and after the training. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed for the metabonomics analysis of the samples. The metabolism data was analyzed by using principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares analysis (OPLS-DA), through the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database to confirm the potential differences between metabolites, and the MetPA database was used to analyze the related metabolic pathways.

Results

There was no significant difference between the maximal oxygen uptakes among the three groups. Compared with group 1, the maximum and average anaerobic power in group 3 significantly decreased (p < 0.05) at the end of training. GC-MS detected 635 metabolites in the urine samples. Through PCA, OPLS-DA analysis, and KEGG matching, 25 different metabolites (3↑22↓) that met the conditions were finally selected. These different metabolites belonged to 5 metabolic pathways: glycine-serine-threonine metabolism, citrate cycle, tyrosine metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism.

Conclusions

During the combined exercise of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, teenage football players show a significant decrease in anaerobic capacity after fatigue. The metabolic mechanism of exercise fatigue was related to disorders in amino acid and energy metabolism.