title: Delayed preconditioning-mimetic actions of exercise or nitroglycerin do not affect haemodynamics and exercise performance in trained or sedentary individuals.
abstract: Nitroglycerin induces the so-called second window of protection (SWOP), which alleviates myocardial damage and stunning after ischaemia/reperfusion. To determine whether myocardial performance during exercise is improved in the second window of protection, we studied the haemodynamic responses of 12 trained and 11 sedentary individuals during a sequence of maximal tests on a cycle ergometer. A baseline test (basal test) was followed by a second effort performed during the second window of protection (exercise-SWOP test). Haemodynamics was also evaluated after pharmacologically induced SWOP 48 h after transdermal administration of 10 mg of nitroglycerin (pharmacologically induced SWOP test). The exercise-SWOP and pharmacologically induced SWOP tests were separated by a 1-week washout period. Endothelial-dependent vasodilatation after nitroglycerin pre-treatment was also assessed in five sedentary individuals to determine whether nitrate donors could affect vascular function. We found that nitroglycerin pre-treatment did not induce any improvement in haemodynamics in either trained or sedentary individuals, since maximum values of workload, heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, myocardial contractility, and double product were similar between the exercise-SWOP and pharmacologically induced SWOP tests in both groups. Furthermore, nitroglycerin pre-treatment did not alter flow-mediated dilation during pharmacologically induced SWOP. Although nitroglycerin pre-treatment alleviates post-ischaemic myocardial stunning, our results suggest that it does not affect the myocardial performance of healthy individuals during exercise performed in the second window of protection, independently of the training status of the individuals. Moreover, nitroglycerin pre-treatment does not ameliorate endothelial function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences Applied to Biological Systems, Section of Human Physiology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crisafulli
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Melis
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tocco
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pittau
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lorrai
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mancardi
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Concu
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pagliaro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000187:drug effects*; D004727:Endothelium / Q000187:drug effects; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005152:Facial Muscles; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D019157:Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects*; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects*; D009206:Myocardium; D005996:Nitroglycerin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects