Abstract
Rationale: Cigarette smoking and asthma are associated with attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilation in the airway. Endothelial shear stress activates endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), leading to endothelium-dependent vasodilation. It has been shown that whole body periodic acceleration (WBPA), activates eNOS. However, the effect of WBPA on endothelial function in the airway has not been investigated.
Objective: To assess the effect of a single WBPA session on beta-2 agonist induced, endothelium-dependent vasodilation (ΔQaw) in 15 current smokers, 15 never-smokers with asthma, and 15 healthy never-smokers, with the expectation that the treatment would transiently improve endothelial function.
Methods: ΔQaw was defined as the Qaw response to inhaled albuterol (180μg). Nitrite and S-nitrosothiol blood levels (NO) were assayed using a tri-iodide based reductive chemiluminescence method. All measurements were made before and immediately after a 45 minutes WBPA treatment using Exer-Rest®.
Results: WBPA increased mean baseline Qaw by 15.14±3.53 μl/min/ml in non-smokers (p<0.001) but had no effect on Qaw in smokers and asthmatics. ΔQaw remained unchanged in all three groups. NO levels tended to increase in asthmatics (13%) and non-smokers (31%), but the changes did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusions: A single session of WBPA increases airway blood flow in healthy non-smokers, but not in smokers and asthmatics. The treatment has no effect on the blunted endothelium-dependent vasodilation in smokers and asthmatics nor does it augment normal endothelium-dependent vasodilation in healthy non-smokers despite a tendency toward eNOS activation
- © 2011 ERS
