Exercise with blood flow restriction as a new tool for health improvement in hypertensive elderly women: the role of purinergic enzymes.

BACKGROUND: Purinergic signaling has been considered one of the mechanisms by which exercise exerts its antihypertensive effects; and research on the effects of blow flow restriction (BFR) exercise has increased as an alternative for elderly hypertensive patients. We analyzed the acute responses of NTPDase and adenosine deaminase (ADA) activities to low intensity aerobic exercise (LIAE) with BFR in lymphocytes of hypertensive elderly women. METHODS: Sixteen hypertensive elderly women performed three exercise protocols: LIAE; high intensity aerobic exercise (HIAE) and LIAE+BFR. Blood pressure, heart rate and blood collection were carried out before exercise, immediately after exercise and 30 min after exercise. NTPDase and ADA activities were measured in lymphocytes. RESULTS: Our results showed that LIAE+BFR triggered the same stimuli when compared to HIAE exercise regarding to NTPDases activities, suggesting that both protocols trigger an augment of these enzyme activities in response to: 1) increase in ATP release during exercise; and 2) need of adenosine generation to promotes anti-inflammatory responses in the recovery period. HIAE protocol was more effective than the others to trigger combined hypotensive and anti-inflammatory effects in the recovery period. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that BFR is a good tool to promote anti-inflammatory effects similar (not equal) to HIAE. Moreover, LIAE+BFR promotes much more stimuli and adaptations related to immune functions than low intensity protocols, bringing more benefits for the hypertensive elderly population.

Effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Celtis iguanaea on markers of cardiovascular diseases and glucose metabolism in cholesterol-fed rats

ABSTRACT Celtis iguanaea (Jacq.) Sarg., Cannabaceae, is popularly used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. However, chemical and pharmacological investigations are lacking. In this study, we investigated the effects of the hydroalcoholic extract from C. iguanaea on markers of cardiovascular diseases and the glucose metabolism in cholesterol-fed rats. Therefore, hypercholesterolemic rats (1% cholesterol) were orally treated with C. iguanaea extract (C-150, CI-300, or CI-600 mg/kg) or simvastatin (4 mg/kg) (n = 6) once a day (30 days) with a hypercholesterolemic diet. A control group (C) was given saline. C. iguanaea extract showed significant decreases in serum levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HMG-CoA-reductase, interleukin-1 and 6, TNF-α and IFN-γ when compared to group C (p < 0.001). Hypoglycemic effects were observed along with a decrease of the activity of sucrase (CI-600), maltase (CI-150, CI-300), and an increase in muscle glycogen levels (CI-300). Antioxidant effects were observed in plasma by the decrease of TBARS and increase of nonprotein thiols levels (CI-600). The histopathological analysis showed a significant decrease in the liver fat area for C. iguanaea extract compared to group C (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that the biological effects of C. iguanaea extract could be related to the flavonoids that possibly exert antioxidant, enzymatic inhibitory, and insulin-mimetic effects.