Are changes in conduit artery function associated with intima-medial thickness in young subjects?

BACKGROUND: Impaired brachial artery endothelial function, assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD), provides a strong prognostic index of cardiovascular events in asymptomatic adults and those with cardiovascular disease. However, the relationship between FMD and carotid intima-medial thickness (cIMT) in young people is unknown. We hypothesized that impaired FMD, and decreased FMD over time, would predict cIMT. DESIGN AND METHODS: FMD and cIMT were assessed using high-resolution Doppler ultrasound in 53 children (18 boys) aged 10.3 ± 0.3 years. FMD was assessed at baseline and 4-month and 30-month follow up. cIMT was assessed at 30-months. RESULTS: There was no significant relationship between FMD measured at baseline (10.7 ± 4.3) and cIMT at 30 months. FMD was depressed at 4 months (7.2 ± 3.5, p < 0.05) and 30 months (8.2 ± 3.3, p = 0.51). However, there was no correlation between changes in FMD and cIMT. CONCLUSION: Changes in arterial function occurred in young subjects across a 30-month time frame; however, these changes were unrelated to individual differences in cIMT in this cohort. These data contrast with findings in adults and indicate that longer periods of functional impairment may be necessary before atherosclerotic wall thickening becomes apparent in young people, suggesting there is a 'window of opportunity' for preventative intervention strategies.

Exercise-mediated changes in conduit artery wall thickness in humans: role of shear stress.

Episodic increases in shear stress have been proposed as a mechanism that induces training-induced adaptation in arterial wall remodeling in humans. To address this hypothesis in humans, we examined bilateral brachial artery wall thickness using high-resolution ultrasound in healthy men across an 8-wk period of bilateral handgrip training. Unilaterally, shear rate was attenuated by cuff inflation around the forearm to 60 mmHg. Grip strength, forearm volume, and girth improved similarly between the limbs. Acute bouts of handgrip exercise increased shear rate (P < 0.005) in the noncuffed limb, whereas cuff inflation successfully decreased exercise-induced increases in shear. Brachial blood pressure responses similarly increased during exercise in both the cuffed and noncuffed limbs. Handgrip training had no effect on baseline brachial artery diameter, blood flow, or shear rate but significantly decreased brachial artery wall thickness after 6 and 8 wk (ANOVA, P < 0.001) and wall-to-lumen ratio after week 8 (ANOVA, P = 0.005). The magnitude of decrease in brachial artery wall thickness and wall-to-lumen ratio after exercise training was similar in the noncuffed and cuffed arms. These results suggest that exercise-induced changes in shear rate are not obligatory for arterial wall remodeling during a period of 8 wk of exercise training in healthy humans.

Seasonal reduction in physical activity and flow-mediated dilation in children.

PURPOSE: cardiovascular disease is a process that has its origins in childhood. Endothelial dysfunction is the earliest detectable manifestation of cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to assess the impact of seasonal changes in physical activity (PA) and body composition on conduit artery endothelial function in children. METHOD: we studied 116 children (70 girls aged 10.7 ± 0.3 yr and 46 boys aged 10.7 ± 0.3 yr) on two occasions; in the northern summer (June) and late autumn (November). We assessed flow-mediated dilation (FMD) using high-resolution Doppler ultrasound. Body composition was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. PA was assessed using accelerometry. RESULTS: FMD (10.0% ± 4.3% to 7.9% ± 3.9%, P < 0.001) and PA (94.1 ± 34.8 to 77.8 ± 33.7 min·d, P < 0.01) decreased, while percentage body fat increased (27.6% ± 6.8% to 28.0% ± 6.6%, P < 0.001) between summer and autumn. Decreases in FMD correlated with decreases in high-intensity PA (r = 0.23, P = 0.04), and change in high-intensity PA was the only predictor of change in FMD. No relationships were evident between changes in body composition and FMD. CONCLUSIONS: vascular function decreased between summer and autumn in this cohort. There were no relationships between change in FMD and changes in body composition or low/moderate-intensity PA. The associations between FMD and high-intensity PA suggests that future interventions should encourage this form of behavior, particularly at the times of year associated with lower PA.

Heritability of arterial function, fitness, and physical activity in youth: a study of monozygotic and dizygotic twins.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the role of heredity in determining flow-mediated dilation in young people by comparing conduit artery endothelial function in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. We also determined relationships between physical activity and fitness in each twin subset. STUDY DESIGN: Flow-mediated dilation was assessed with high-resolution ultrasonography of the brachial artery in 22 twin pairs (11 monozygotic pairs 13.3 ± 1.6 years, 11 dizygotic pairs 13.6 ± 1.6 years). Fitness was assessed as peak oxygen uptake during an incremental treadmill test. Physical activity was measured with accelerometry. Twin versus twin intraclass correlations were performed for both groups. RESULTS: Flow-mediated dilation was significantly correlated in monozygotic twins only (r = 0.60, P = .02). Heritability of flow-mediated dilation was estimated at 0.44. Total PA time (monozygotic r = 0.77, dizygotic r = 0.60, P < .05) and light physical activity time (monozygotic r = 0.67, dizygotic r = 0.63, P < .05) correlated significantly in both groups. The peak oxygen uptake (r = 0.84, P < .01) was correlated only in monozygotic twins. CONCLUSION: Genetic factors appear to be responsible for a modest portion of the flow-mediated dilation response, suggesting that flow-mediated dilation can be influenced by environmental factors.

Shear stress mediates endothelial adaptations to exercise training in humans.

Although episodic changes in shear stress have been proposed as the mechanism responsible for the effects of exercise training on the vasculature, this hypothesis has not been directly addressed in humans. We examined brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, an index of NO-mediated endothelial function, in healthy men in response to an acute bout of handgrip exercise and across an 8-week period of bilateral handgrip training. Shear stress responses were attenuated in one arm by cuff inflation to 60 mm Hg. Similar increases were observed in grip strength and forearm volume and girth in both limbs. Acute bouts of handgrip exercise increased shear rate (P<0.005) and flow-mediated dilation percentage (P<0.05) in the uncuffed limb, whereas no changes were evident in the cuffed arm. Handgrip training increased flow-mediated dilation percentage in the noncuffed limb at weeks 2, 4, and 6 (P<0.001), whereas no changes were observed in the cuffed arm. Brachial artery peak reactive hyperemia, an index of resistance artery remodeling, progressively increased with training in the noncuffed limb (P<0.001 and 0.004); no changes were evident in the cuffed arm. Neither acute nor chronic shear manipulation during exercise influenced endothelium-independent glyceryl trinitrate responses. These results demonstrate that exercise-induced changes in shear provide the principal physiological stimulus to adaptation in flow-mediated endothelial function and vascular remodeling in response to exercise training in healthy humans.

Is the ratio of flow-mediated dilation and shear rate a statistically sound approach to normalization in cross-sectional studies on endothelial function?

It has been deemed important to normalize flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a marker of endothelial function, for between-subject differences in the eliciting shear rate (SR) stimulus. Conventionally, FMD is divided by the area under the curve of the SR stimulus. In the context of a cross-sectional comparison across different age cohorts, we examined whether this ratio approach adhered to established statistical assumptions necessary for reliable normalization. To quantify brachial artery FMD and area under the curve of SR, forearm cuff inflation to suprasystolic pressure was administered for 5 min to 16 boys aged 10.9 yr (SD 0.3), 48 young men aged 25.3 yr (SD 4.2), and 15 older men aged 57.5 yr (SD 4.3). Mean differences between age groups were statistically significant (P < 0.001) for nonnormalized FMD [children: 10.4% (SD 5.4), young adults: 7.5% (SD 2.9), older adults: 5.6% (SD 2.0)] but not for ratio-normalized FMD (P = 0.10). Moreover, all assumptions necessary for reliable use of ratio-normalization were violated, including regression slopes between SR and FMD that had y-intercepts greater than zero (P < 0.05), nonlinear and unstable relations between the normalized ratios and SR, skewed data distributions, and heteroscedastic variance. Logarithmic transformation of SR and FMD before ratio calculation improved adherence to these assumptions and resulted in age differences similar to the nonnormalized data (P = 0.03). In conclusion, although ratio normalization of FMD altered findings about age differences in endothelial function, this could be explained by violation of statistical assumptions. We recommend that exploration of these assumptions should be routine in future research. If the relationship between SR and FMD is generally found to be weak or nonlinear or variable between samples, then ratio normalization should not be applied.

Impact of shear rate modulation on vascular function in humans.

Shear stress is an important stimulus to arterial adaptation in response to exercise and training in humans. We recently observed significant reverse arterial flow and shear during exercise and different antegrade/retrograde patterns of shear and flow in response to different types of exercise. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously examine flow-mediated dilation, a largely NO-mediated vasodilator response, in both brachial arteries of healthy young men before and after 30-minute interventions consisting of bilateral forearm heating, recumbent leg cycling, and bilateral handgrip exercise. During each intervention, a cuff inflated to 60 mm Hg was placed on 1 arm to unilaterally manipulate the shear rate stimulus. In the noncuffed arm, antegrade flow and shear increased similarly in response to each intervention (ANOVA; P<0.001, no interaction between interventions; P=0.71). Baseline flow-mediated dilation (4.6%, 6.9%, and 6.7%) increased similarly in response to heating, handgrip, and cycling (8.1%, 10.4%, and 8.9%, ANOVA; P<0.001, no interaction; P=0.89). In contrast, cuffed arm antegrade shear rate was lower than in the noncuffed arm for all of the conditions (P<0.05), and the increase in flow-mediated dilation was abolished in this arm (4.7%, 6.7%, and 6.1%; 2-way ANOVA: all conditions interacted P<0.05). These results suggest that differences in the magnitude of antegrade shear rate transduce differences in endothelial vasodilator function in humans, a finding that may have relevance for the impact of different exercise interventions on vascular adaptation in humans.

Retrograde flow and shear rate acutely impair endothelial function in humans.

Changes in arterial shear stress induce functional and structural vasculature adaptations. Recent studies indicate that substantial retrograde flow and shear can occur through human conduit arteries. In animals, retrograde shear is associated with atherogenic effects. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of incremental levels of retrograde shear on endothelial function in vivo. On 3 separate days, we examined bilateral brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, an index of NO-mediated endothelial function, in healthy men (24+/-3 years) before and after a 30-minute intervention consisting of cuff inflation to 25, 50, or 75 mm Hg. Cuff inflations resulted in "dose"-dependent increases in retrograde shear rate, compared with the noncuffed arm, within subjects (P<0.001). Flow-mediated dilation in the cuffed arm did not change in response to the 25-mm Hg stimulus but decreased significantly after both the 50- and 75-mm Hg interventions (P<0.05). The decrease in flow-mediated dilation after the 75-mm Hg intervention was significantly larger than that observed after a 50-mm Hg intervention (P=0.03). In the noncuffed arm, no changes in shear rate or flow-mediated dilation were observed. These results demonstrate that an increase in retrograde shear rate induces a dose-dependent attenuation of endothelial function in humans. This finding contributes to our understanding regarding the possible detrimental effects of retrograde shear rate in vivo.

Does arterial shear explain the magnitude of flow-mediated dilation?: a comparison between young and older humans.

Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) has become a commonly applied approach for the assessment of vascular function and health in humans. Recent studies emphasize the importance of normalizing the magnitude of FMD to its apparent eliciting stimulus, the postdeflation arterial shear. However, the relationship between shear stress and the magnitude of FMD may differ between groups. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the brachial FMD and four different indexes of postdeflation shear rate (SR) in healthy children (n = 51, 10 +/- 1 yr) and young (n = 57, 27 +/- 6 yr) and older (n = 27, 58 +/- 4 yr) adults. SR was calculated from deflation (time 0) until 9 s (peak), 30 s (0-30), 60 s (0-60), or until the time-to-peak diameter in each individual (0-ttp). Edge detection and wall tracking of high resolution B-mode arterial ultrasound images were used to calculate the conduit artery diameter. In young adults, the brachial artery FMD demonstrated a significant correlation with the area under the SR curve (SR(AUC)) 0-30 s (r(2) = 0.12, P = 0.009), 0-60 s (r(2) = 0.14, P = 0.005), and 0-ttp (r(2) = 0.14, P = 0.005) but not for the peak SR(AUC) 0-9 s (r(2) = 0.04, P = 0.12). In children and older adults, the magnitude of the brachial artery FMD did not correlate with any of the four SR(AUC) stimuli. These findings suggest that in young subjects, postdeflation SR(AUC) correlates moderately with the magnitude of the FMD response. However, the relationship between FMD and postdeflation shear appears to be age dependent, with less evidence for an association in younger and older subjects. Therefore, we support presenting SR(AUC) stimuli but not normalizing FMD responses for the SR(AUC) when using this technique.

The impact of baseline diameter on flow-mediated dilation differs in young and older humans.

Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) has become a commonly applied approach for the assessment of vascular function and health, but methods used to calculate FMD differ between studies. For example, the baseline diameter used as a benchmark is sometimes assessed before cuff inflation, whereas others use the diameter during cuff inflation. Therefore, we compared the brachial artery diameter before and during cuff inflation and calculated the resulting FMD in healthy children (n=45; 10+/-1 yr), adults (n=31; 28+/-6 yr), and older subjects (n=22; 58+/-5 yr). Brachial artery FMD was examined after 5 min of distal ischemia. Diameter was determined from either 30 s before cuff inflation or from the last 30 s during cuff inflation. Edge detection and wall tracking of high resolution B-mode arterial ultrasound images was used to calculate conduit artery diameter. Brachial artery diameter during cuff inflation was significantly larger than before inflation in children (P=0.02) and adults (P<0.001) but not in older subjects (P=0.59). Accordingly, FMD values significantly differed in children (11.2+/-5.1% vs. 9.4+/-5.2%; P=0.02) and adults (7.3+/-3.2% vs. 4.6+/-3.3%; P<0.001) but not in older subjects (6.3+/-3.4% vs. 6.0+/-4.2%; P=0.77). When the diameter before cuff inflation was used, an age-dependent decline was evident in FMD, whereas FMD calculated using the diameter during inflation was associated with higher FMD values in older than younger adults. In summary, the inflation of the cuff significantly increases brachial artery diameter, which results in a lower FMD response. This effect was found to be age dependent, which emphasizes the importance of using appropriate methodology to calculate the FMD.

Time course of change in vasodilator function and capacity in response to exercise training in humans.

Studies of the impact of exercise training on arterial adaptation in healthy subjects have produced disparate results. It is possible that some studies failed to detect changes because functional and structural adaptations follow a different time course and may therefore not be detected at discrete time points. To gain insight into the time course of training-induced changes in artery function and structure, we examined conduit artery flow mediated dilatation (FMD), an index of nitric oxide (NO)-mediated artery function, and conduit dilator capacity (DC), a surrogate marker for arterial remodelling, in the brachial and popliteal arteries of 13 healthy male subjects (21.6 +/- 0.6 years) and seven non-active controls (22.8 +/- 0.2 years) studied at 2-week intervals across an 8-week cycle and treadmill exercise training programme. Brachial and popliteal artery FMD and DC did not change in control subjects at any time point. FMD increased from baseline (5.9 +/- 0.5%) at weeks 2 and 4 (9.1 +/- 0.6, 8.5 +/- 0.6%, respectively, P < 0.01), but returned towards baseline levels again by week 8 (6.9 +/- 0.7%). In contrast, brachial artery DC progressively increased from baseline (8.1 +/- 0.4%) at weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8 (9.2 +/- 0.6, 9.9 +/- 0.6, 10.0 +/- 0.5, 10.5 +/- 0.8%, P < 0.05). Similarly, popliteal artery FMD increased from baseline (6.2 +/- 0.7%) at weeks 2, 4 and 6 (9.1 +/- 0.6, 9.5 +/- 0.6, 7.8 +/- 0.5%, respectively, P < 0.05), but decreased again by week 8 (6.5 +/- 0.6%), whereas popliteal DC progressively increased from baseline (8.9 +/- 0.4%) at week 4 and 8 (10.5 +/- 0.7, 12.2 +/- 0.6%, respectively, P < 0.05). These data suggest that functional changes in conduit arteries occur rapidly and precede arterial remodelling in vivo. These data suggest that complimentary adaptations occur in arterial function and structure and future studies should adopt multiple time point assessments to comprehensively assess arterial adaptations to interventions such as exercise training in humans.