(Circulation. 1995;92:3212-3219.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
Endothelial Control of Arterial Distensibility Is Impaired in Chronic Heart Failure
From the Cardiovascular Sciences Research Group, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK.
Correspondence to Dr M.W. Ramsey, Department of Cardiology, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff CF4 4XN, UK.
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Abstract |
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Background Vascular tone is a determinant of conduit artery distensibility. The aim of this study was to establish whether endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) influences the distensibility of conduit arteries and whether endothelium-mediated increases in distensibility are impaired in chronic heart failure (CHF).
Methods and Results Conduit artery distensibility was measured by two methods in healthy subjects and in nine patients with CHF caused by dilated cardiomyopathy. In the first method, pulse-wave velocity (PWV) was measured in the right common iliac artery at rest and during local infusions of acetylcholine (10-7 to 10-5 mol/L) or adenosine (2x10-7 to 2x10-5 mol/L), with correction for systemic effects. Acetylcholine induced concentration-dependent local reductions of PWV in healthy subjects (-5%, -15%, and -26%) but not in CHF patients (3%, 1% , -4%, P<.01), whereas adenosine induced similar reductions of PWV in healthy subjects and CHF patients. In the second method, brachial artery diameter, blood flow, and blood pressure were measured noninvasively by high-resolution ultrasound, continuous-wave Doppler, and photoplethysmography during reactive hyperemia in the hand and after sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN, 400 µg). Hyperemic flow, similar in healthy subjects and CHF patients, was associated with increases in diameter and distensibility in healthy subjects (8.8% and 18.4%, respectively) but not in CHF patients (0.3% and -4.5%), whereas GTN induced similar effects in healthy subjects and CHF patients.
Conclusions These data indicate that conduit artery distensibility is increased by acetylcholine and increased blood flow in healthy subjects but not in CHF patients, whereas the effects of adenosine and GTN on distensibility are preserved in CHF patients. This implies that EDRF-mediated increases in distensibility are impaired in CHF patients, thus adding to cardiac work.
Key Words: arteries • elasticity • heart failure • endothelium-derived factors
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Introduction |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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The elastic behavior of conduit arteries converts pulsatile cardiac ejection into nearly continuous tissue perfusion and reduces systolic pressure relative to flow, resulting in reduced workload relative to perfusion ("cardiovascular efficiency"). It may be characterized by distensibility (
V/VP, where V is luminal volume
and P is transmural pressure) and is determined by structural
components of the arterial wall, smooth muscle tone, and
transmural pressure. Elastic behavior may thus change acutely with
changes in smooth muscle tone or transmural pressure1 or
chronically with changes in structure such as in
aging,2 3 4 5
hypertension,6 7 and
atherosclerosis.8 Specifically, it may be
influenced by the activity of EDRF in response to flow or agonist
stimulation, and it could be reduced in those conditions in which EDRF
activity is impaired in conduit arteries. CHF is characterized by increased peripheral vascular resistance, which may be due in part to impaired EDRF activity.9 Endothelium-dependent vasodilatation has been reported to be abnormal in heart failure; EDRF activity in response to acetylcholine is reduced in heart failure models in the femoral artery of dogs and rats10 11 12 and in the peripheral and coronary microcirculation in humans.9 13 14 15 Changes in radial artery diameter induced by acetylcholine16 and in brachial artery diameter induced by methacholine17 in patients with CHF have been reported to be normal, suggesting that impairment of EDRF secretion from conduit artery endothelium is not a prominent feature of CHF in humans.
The present studies were designed to establish whether the distensibility of a muscular conduit artery is influenced by EDRF activity in healthy subjects and whether EDRF-induced increases in arterial diameter and distensibility are diminished in patients with CHF. We studied patients with CHF caused by DCM to avoid the potentially confounding influences of impaired EDRF activity resulting from hypercholesterolemia, atheroma, or hypertension, which are commonly associated with CHF from other causes. Using two different methods, we studied iliac and brachial arteries and tested the effects of both agonist- and flow-stimulated increases in EDRF activity relative to endothelium-independent vasodilators.
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Methods |
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Subjects
Chronic Heart Failure
Nine patients (mean age, 52 years [range, 23 to 63 years]; 6 men, 3 women) with idiopathic DCM and CHF of New York Heart Association grade I (n=1), II (n=6), or III (n=2) were studied. These patients included all patients with DCM who underwent diagnostic catheterization in the University Hospital of Wales (Cardiff, UK) and who were available for and gave informed consent for this study during its course. All patients had fractional shortening measured by transthoracic echocardiography of <25%, radiological evidence of cardiomegaly, and normal coronary angiograms. All were on stable medical treatment for
2 months with diuretics and ACE
inhibitors; 5 patients were on digoxin, and 1 patient took
nitrovasodilators. ACE inhibitors, digoxin, and
nitrovasodilators were withdrawn 48 hours before and diuretics
12 hours before the study.
Control Subjects
Iliac
artery study. Nine healthy subjects (mean age,
49 years [range, 37 to 58 years]; 4 men, 5 women) were studied after
diagnostic catheterization for chest pain.
All had a negative treadmill exercise test, no other evidence of
cardiovascular disease, and a normal coronary
angiogram. All medications (ß-blockers in 3 patients,
nitrates in 3 patients, and calcium antagonists in 5
patients) were withdrawn for >24 hours before investigation.
Brachial artery study. Fifteen healthy subjects (mean age, 51 years [range, 22 to 63 years]; 8 men, 7 women) were studied. None of the healthy subjects in either control group and no patients with CHF had a history of hypertension (blood pressure >160/90 mm Hg), hypercholesterolemia (cholesterol >7 mmol/L), or diabetes mellitus. Patients with valvular heart disease, previous cardiac surgery, peripheral arterial disease, or evidence of hematologic, hepatic, or renal dysfunction were excluded. All subjects refrained from the use of alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes for >12 hours before the study.
All subjects gave written informed consent, and the protocol was approved by the ethical committee of the South Glamorgan Health Authority.
Iliac Artery Study: PWV
Distensibility may be derived from
PWV, which is inversely
related to the square root of distensibility.18 For
ethical reasons, we took advantage of the opportunity offered by
diagnostic catheterization to measure
directly the pressure wave in the RCIA in this study, performed 2 to 4
hours after the diagnostic catheterization.
Concentration-related, directly mediated local effects of an
endothelium-dependent dilator (acetylcholine) and
an endothelium-independent dilator
(adenosine) were derived by normalizing for
hemodynamic, flow-related, and reflex neurohumoral
effects. This was achieved by infusing the same agents proximally and
distally to the length of the RCIA over which PWV was measured and
subtracting the effects of distal infusion from the effects of proximal
infusion.
Procedure
After an overnight fast and routine
oral premedication with
diazepam (10 mg), a right femoral artery puncture was performed under
local anesthesia (1% lignocaine). A 6F end-hole
catheter with a 0.46-mm lumen and two high-fidelity pressure
transducers mounted 10 and 60 mm from its distal end (Gaeltec) was
inserted through a 2.3-mm arterial sheath into the RCIA
under radiographic screening. Small hand injections of
contrast media (iohexol 300) were delivered through the lumen of the
catheter to ensure that the catheter was positioned away from major
arterial bifurcations and that subsequent infusions through
the catheter lumen would remain in the ipsilateral RCIA. All subjects
were given heparin (5000 U bolus and then 1000 U/h IV) for
anticoagulation, and saline (150 mmol/L) was infused continuously
through the catheter and sheath to prevent local thrombus formation.
Subjects were subsequently studied at supine rest on a bed in a
temperature-controlled environment (22°C to 24°C).
Measurements
All measurements were derived from the
signals obtained from the
pressure transducers mounted 50 mm apart on the catheter in the RCIA.
PWV was determined from the delay in the foot of the pressure wave
arriving at the two transducers. The delay was measured in real time by
use of a novel parallel processing algorithm implemented on a T800
30-MHz transputer housed within a personal computer.19 In
brief, the computer performs multiple time shifts of the distal
waveform relative to the proximal waveform in the region of the
systolic edge. The sum of the moduli of the differences between
discrete sections of the waveforms is calculated repeatedly, and the
instance when this sum is at a minimum represents the time
delay between the two waveforms. The accuracy of this system is largely
dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio; with
physiological pressure waveforms, the accuracy is
estimated to be 
50 microseconds.19 Mean blood pressure
in the RCIA was calculated as the time integral of the pressure signal
during each cardiac cycle, and heart rate was determined from the time
between consecutive systolic pressure wave fronts.
Intra-arterial Infusions
After baseline recordings
were taken with saline (150
mmol/L) infused through the catheter lumen into the proximal RCIA,
adenosine was infused at 5 mL/min in incremental doses (10,
100, and 1000 µg/mL each for 3 minutes to give approximate local RCIA
concentrations of 2x10-7,
2x10-6, and
2x10-5 mol/L, respectively), followed by
washout with physiological saline for 5 minutes.
After a return to steady state conditions, the baseline
recordings were repeated and acetylcholine was infused
similarly in incremental concentrations (3.6, 36, and 360 µg/mL each
for 3 minutes to give approximate local concentrations of
10-7,
10-6, and
10-5 mol/L, respectively).
Adenosine solutions were freshly prepared by diluting a sterile
25 mg/5 mL solution (South Glamorgan Pharmaceutical Services) with
saline (150 mmol/L). Acetylcholine solutions were freshly prepared by
diluting the reconstituted sterile powder (Miochol, Johnson & Johnson)
with saline (150 mmol/L). Changes in concentration resulting from
changes in flow during infusion of active agents were negligible
relative to the 10- and 100-fold differences in drug concentrations.
Measurements were recorded when steady state responses of PWV,
blood pressure, and heart rate had been reached during the final minute
of each infusion.
To control for flow-related and neurohumorally mediated changes in conduit artery distensibility after downstream microvascular dilatation and for reflex responses to any change in blood pressure, the protocol was repeated with the vasodilators infused through the arterial sheath >3 cm distal to the two pressure transducers. Thus, the segment of conduit artery being studied was not exposed to the distally infused vasodilator, although indirect effects were common to both proximal and distal infusions. The half-lives of adenosine and acetylcholine in vivo are <9.3 seconds20 and <1 millisecond,21 respectively, so the concentration of these agents recirculating from distal infusion to the segment of artery under study may be estimated as <0.15 of the original concentration (assuming a circulation time of 60 seconds22 ) and may be regarded as negligible for the purposes of this study. In addition, the directly mediated local effect of the drug was derived by subtracting the effects of the distal infusions from those of the proximal infusions, so that any recirculation effect would be negated.
Brachial Artery Study: Ultrasound Wall Tracking
Distensibility was also derived noninvasively from
high-resolution ultrasound measurement of brachial artery diameter
in relation to blood pressure. This method provides a measure of
distensibility from beat to beat and over the range of distension
induced by the pulse. It also gives data for blood flow and brachial
artery vasodilatation in response to the dilator interventions
used.
Procedure
Studies were performed on fasting
subjects in the morning after
15 minutes of supine rest in a temperature-controlled room (21°C
to 23°C ), with the outstretched arm supported by a pneumatic
cushion.
Measurements
The high-resolution
ultrasonic wall tracking system used in
this study consisted of a specially adapted duplex color flow
ultrasound machine (Diasonics Spectra) with a 7.5-MHz linear
phased-array transducer. The brachial artery was identified with
the ultrasound transducer. Anatomic landmarks (usually
arterial bifurcations) were identified to allow repeated
studies on the same section of artery. A standoff device containing
ultrasound coupling gel was placed beneath the transducer to prevent
compression of the anterior wall of the artery. The transducer was held
in a stereotactic clamp, and a two-dimensional B-mode
image of the brachial artery was obtained. The M-mode cursor was then
positioned perpendicular to the vessel, and the horizontal distance
between the cursor and the anatomic landmark was noted. With the
ultrasound machine in M mode, the radiofrequency signals from the
M-mode output were digitized and relayed to the wall tracking system.
The sampling frequency of the radiofrequency signals was 1 kHz, and the
total recording time was 10 seconds. On completion of data
acquisition, the first radiofrequency signal was displayed on the
computer screen. The operator marked the positions of the anterior and
posterior vessel walls using sample volume markers. The wall tracking
system tracked the vessel wall movements using the stored
radiofrequency signals (axial resolution, 3 µm) to produce
displacement waveforms of the anterior and posterior artery walls (Fig
1
), which allowed
end-diastolic and end-systolic intraluminal
diameters and thus the maximum change in diameter or distension for
each beat to be determined.
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Reproducibility, interoperator error, and repeatability of the method were validated in preliminary studies. Consecutive baseline measurements of arterial diameter made 30 minutes apart by the same operator in 22 subjects showed good correlation (r=.997). The mean coefficient of variation for baseline arterial diameter measurements in 20 subjects made by two different operators was 1.6%. In studies repeated 2 to 16 weeks apart by different operators in 22 subjects, the variance in diameter at baseline was 0.02 mm; the increase in diameter was 1.6% during reactive hyperemia and 2.3% after GTN administration.
Blood pressure was recorded noninvasively with photoplethysmography (Finapres) with a cuff on the middle finger of the arm being studied. Diastolic and systolic pressures measured in this study have been shown to correlate well with intrabrachial arterial pressure23 and intra-aortic pressure (M.W.R., J.G., personal observations, 1994).
Arterial distensibility (V/VP, where V is volume and
P is pressure) can be represented as D/D/P (where D
is diameter) if cylindrical arterial conformation is
assumed. Distensibility was derived from the systolic
distension (difference between peak systolic and
end-diastolic intravascular diameter, D) and
simultaneously recorded pulse pressure (P) for each
beat. Data represent the average during a 10-second
recording.
Blood flow was measured with an 8-MHz continuous-wave Doppler probe mounted 60° over the brachial artery just distal to the 7.5-MHz imaging transducer. Brachial artery blood flow was calculated as the product of the mean spatial blood flow velocity corrected for the Doppler angle (SciMed Dopstation) and internal brachial artery diameter.
Experimental Protocol
Measurements were
made at baseline, during increased blood flow
secondary to reactive hyperemia in the hand, and after
administration of sublingual GTN (400 µg). Hyperemia was
induced after inflation of a pediatric sphygmomanometer cuff at the
wrist for 5 minutes (preliminary studies had shown that
hyperemic blood flow remained similar [±5%] after cuff
inflation ranging from 4 to 15 minutes). Blood pressure was measured
continuously (except during wrist-cuff inflation), brachial artery
blood flow was measured from -15 to 90 seconds, and internal
brachial artery diameter was measured at 60 to 70 seconds after cuff
release (preliminary studies had shown that the increase in diameter
was maximal [±5%] from 45 to 90 seconds under all conditions
studied). Return of all hemodynamic measurements to
baseline was confirmed before each intervention. Data are
presented at initial baseline, 60 seconds after cuff release,
and 3 minutes after GTN administration.
Statistical Analysis
Age, blood cholesterol, and resting
heart rate,
blood pressure, and PWV were analyzed with unpaired
t tests. Sex distribution between control subjects and CHF
patients was compared by use of Fisher's exact probability test. For
the iliac artery study, PWV, blood pressure, and heart rate
recorded for each beat during the final minute of each infusion
were averaged, and statistical significance was assessed by
repeated-measures ANOVA24 with patient group, drug
type and concentration, PWV, blood pressure, and heart rate as
covariates, using the SAS statistical software package (SAS
Institute). For the brachial artery study, effects were related to the
preceding baseline, and groups compared by an unpaired t
test. A value of P<.05 was considered significant.
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Results |
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There were no significant differences in the age or sex distribution, serum cholesterol levels, or smoking habits between the CHF patients and the control groups of healthy subjects (Table 1
). Resting heart rate also was
similar, although pressure tended to be lower in CHF patients than in
the control group for the iliac artery study. There also were no
significant differences between CHF patients and their corresponding
healthy control groups in resting RCIA PWV or in resting brachial
artery blood flow, systolic or diastolic diameters,
distension, or distensibility.
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Iliac Artery Study: PWV
Healthy Subjects
Adenosine and acetylcholine infused into the proximal RCIA
of healthy subjects significantly decreased PWV (increased
distensibility) in a concentration-dependent manner (Table 2,
Fig 2). Both agents caused
concentration-dependent reductions in blood pressure and increases
in heart rate. When infused into the distal RCIA, adenosine and
acetylcholine caused concentration-dependent increases in PWV, but
their effects on blood pressure and heart rate were not significantly
different from those caused by the proximal infusions. Subtracting the
results induced by the distal infusions from those induced by the
proximal infusions gave the direct effects of adenosine and
acetylcholine on RCIA PWV independent of flow-mediated and other
indirect effects (Fig 3). Both
adenosine and acetylcholine caused significant direct
concentration-dependent reductions in PWV (increases in
distensibility) in these healthy subjects.
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, solid lines) and CHF patients
(
, dotted lines).
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CHF Patients
In contrast to results in healthy subjects, proximal infusion of
adenosine and of acetylcholine did not significantly affect PWV
(Table 2
, Fig 2), although changes in
blood pressure and heart rate were similar to those seen in healthy
subjects. Distally infused adenosine and acetylcholine
increased PWV dose dependently, with effects on blood pressure and
heart rate that were similar to those caused by the proximal infusions.
The derived direct local effect of these agents (Fig 3)
differed from that in healthy subjects in that
acetylcholine-induced reductions in PWV were no longer present
(P<.01, CHF patients versus healthy subjects), whereas the
significant adenosine-induced reductions in PWV were
retained.
The results in smokers and nonsmokers appeared to be the same, and exclusion of smokers did not influence the difference between CHF patients and healthy subjects.
Brachial Artery Study: Ultrasound Wall Tracking
Healthy
Subjects
Increased blood flow in the brachial artery in response to
reactive hyperemia in the hand and sublingual administration of
GTN significantly increased arterial diastolic
and systolic diameters, distension, and distensibility, with no
effect on heart rate or blood pressure (Table 3, Fig
4).
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CHF Patients
Blood flow, both
during reactive hyperemia and after GTN
administration, increased to a similar extent in CHF patients and
healthy subjects (Table 3, Fig 4). Compared with
healthy subjects, increased blood flow in the brachial artery did not
increase arterial diameters, distension, or distensibility
in CHF patients, whereas the responses to GTN administration were
preserved.
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Discussion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethods Results Discussion References |
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The principal findings of this study are that the distensibility of a muscular conduit artery is increased by endothelium-mediated vasodilator stimuli in healthy subjects but not in CHF patients and that the increase in distensibility induced by the endothelium-independent stimuli, adenosine and GTN administration, is preserved in CHF. Endothelium-mediated vasodilator stimuli used in this study included acetylcholine, an agonist of EDRF release, and increased flow, shown in such studies to act by increasing EDRF release.25 26 Increased brachial artery flow was induced by reactive hyperemia of the hand after a brief period of cuff inflation distal to the brachial artery, thereby avoiding possible direct consequences of ischemia on the artery being studied caused by proximal cuff inflation.
Impairment of EDRF activity is a feature of hypercholesterolemia,27 hypertension,28 atherosclerosis,29 and diabetes mellitus,30 all of which were excluded in our patients. We therefore studied only patients whose heart failure was a result of DCM; unlike several previous investigators,9 14 15 we excluded those in whom heart failure was due to coronary artery disease. Smokers were not excluded, in the interest of obtaining adequate numbers of patients to investigate. Smoking history, however, was matched between healthy subjects and CHF patients; individual patient responses did not appear to differ between smokers and nonsmokers, and exclusion of smokers did not influence the differences between CHF patients and healthy subjects.
Distensibility of a conduit artery is influenced by its wall tension. For a simple thin-walled elastic tube, wall tension increases with diameter (by the Laplace law), but the relation between these variables is more complex in a muscular conduit artery. The wall has finite thickness, its individual constituents have different elastic properties, and resting arterial diameters vary regionally. In an artery wall containing elastin and collagen, load bearing shifts from elastin to collagen as the artery is distended. Because collagen is stiffer than elastin, elastic properties change nonlinearly with changes in arterial pressure and diameter. The relative contribution of smooth muscle to arterial elasticity will depend directly on its tone1 and on the extent to which wall tension is borne by passive elements over the range of distension being considered.
One method of assessing distensibility is to measure PWV, which is
inversely related to the square root of distensibility (from the
Moens-Koeteweg equation18 ). Accordingly, we measured the
velocity of the pressure wave from the foot of the waveform because
wave reflections from the previous cardiac cycle have generally ceased
by the time of arrival of a new systolic wave
front.31 The foot of the waveform is difficult to define
precisely either visually or mathematically. We therefore developed a
novel algorithm that allows the time delay between the foot of two
pressure waveforms of similar morphology to be measured with high
precision and in real time.19 The RCIA was chosen because
it was easily accessible from a right femoral artery puncture (used as
the standard approach for diagnostic coronary
angiography). This invasive protocol allowed high-fidelity pressure
measurements and thus the precise determination of PWV. The possibility
that the presence of an in-dwelling catheter might have influenced
PWV was minimized by ensuring that the pressure waveforms were of
consistently high quality, implying that the catheter was
positioned centrally in the blood flow stream throughout the study. The
cross-sectional area of the catheter (3 mm2) was small
relative to that of the RCIA (50 to 100 mm2), minimizing
catheter-induced flow disturbances. Moreover, it is
unlikely that the presence of a small, relatively incompressible
catheter within the lumen would influence the distensibility of the
artery wall.
To determine the direct local effects of intra-arterial
infusions of acetylcholine and adenosine on the elastic
properties of the RCIA, it was necessary to correct for indirect
consequences of downstream resistance vessel dilatation. This was
achieved by infusing the agents both proximally and distally to the
length of the artery over which PWV was measured and subtracting the
effects of distal infusion from those of proximal infusion. The results
demonstrated that the direct local action of acetylcholine and
adenosine on the RCIA of healthy subjects was to decrease PWV,
reflecting an increase in distensibility by up to 75% with each
agent. In CHF patients, by contrast, the direct local
acetylcholine-induced reduction in PWV was lost and the
adenosine-mediated effect was preserved, implying loss of
EDRF-mediated increase in distensibility in CHF.
An alternative method of measuring conduit artery distensibility is to measure the luminal diameter and its distension (peak systolic minus end-diastolic diameter) during systolic pulsation by ultrasonic wall tracking, with simultaneous recording of blood pressure. The system developed for this study provides high-resolution diameter measurements (±3 µm)32 validated as giving repeatable and reproducible results and with the practical and ethical advantages of being noninvasive. The brachial artery was chosen as being readily accessible, with the distal wrist cuff used to induce reactive hyperemia. Both reactive hyperemia and GTN administration were associated with increases in flow in CHF patients and healthy subjects (and thus similar local flow signals within each group, although the magnitude of the increase observed with reactive hyperemia was always greater than that seen with GTN). The increase in brachial artery distensibility associated with an increase in flow in healthy subjects, however, was lost in CHF patients. This may have been due to an increase in passive stiffness manifest at larger diameters, but this possibility is effectively precluded by showing that the GTN-induced increase in distensibility occurred at larger intravascular diameters and over a greater systolic distension than those induced by an increase in flow. Loss of the flow-related increase in distensibility in CHF therefore appears to reflect loss of vasodilatation, consistent with impairment of EDRF activity. GTN-induced increases tended to be less in CHF patients (albeit not significantly with these relatively small numbers), which may reflect loss of the additional flow-related stimulus in CHF.
The study provides evidence that EDRF contributes to systemic conduit artery distensibility in healthy subjects when stimulated by either an agonist or increased flow. It also provides evidence that both agonist- and flow-induced EDRF-mediated increases in distensibility are impaired in CHF.
CHF was due to DCM in this study to ensure that other conditions known to be associated with impairment of EDRF activity were excluded, therefore suggesting that the impairment is probably the consequence of CHF per se, although the possibility that it is related to the underlying DCM cannot be ruled out on the evidence of this study. The findings, using two different systemic conduit arteries, two different methods, and two different stimuli of EDRF activity, are entirely consistent and thus mutually supportive, despite potential limitations in methods used clinically to measure distensibility. The loss of the EDRF-mediated increase in distensibility was associated with a loss of EDRF-mediated dilatation, implying greater vasoconstrictor tone as the predicted basis for the loss of distensibility.
This study does not directly address the question of basal EDRF activity, eg, by investigating the effects of nonmetabolized L-arginine analogues. The similar findings in the basal state provide no evidence for a difference in basal EDRF activity, but it remains possible that differences exist and are counterbalanced by compensatory mechanisms.
For the purpose of this study, it was fortuitous that the hyperemic increase in blood flow was similar in CHF patients and healthy subjects, thus providing the same flow signal with which to compare the local brachial artery response. This cannot, however, be taken as evidence that EDRF activity in resistance vessels is normal, for it is known that metabolic signals involved in hyperemic flow can override impairment of EDRF activity within the limits of dilator capacity.33
Flow-related increases in conduit artery distensibility will contribute to overall cardiovascular efficiency (defined in principle as cardiac work relative to tissue perfusion) when, for instance, cardiac output is increased during exercise; it will reduce relative cardiac workload by reducing systolic wall tension for a given stroke output, allowing increased stroke output under otherwise constant conditions and thus reducing relative myocardial energy consumption. Reduced arterial distensibility may be particularly deleterious when cardiac function is depressed, as in CHF.34 Moreover, when PWV is increased as a consequence of reduced distensibility, more rapid reflections of pressure waves to the heart will oppose left ventricular ejection, reducing stroke volume and increasing left ventricular pressure and myocardial oxygen consumption.35 Correction of endothelial dysfunction and increasing conduit artery distensibility may provide a novel means of improving impaired cardiac performance.
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Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms |
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Acknowledgments |
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This study was supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Dr Ramsey was a BHF junior research fellow, C.J.H. Jones was a BHF lecturer, and A.H. Henderson holds the BHF Sir Thomas Lewis Chair of Cardiology. We are grateful to Dr F. Dunstan, Department of Medical Statistics, University of Wales College of Medicine, for his assistance in the statistical analysis of the data and to J. Davies for her secretarial support.
Received August 30, 1994; revision received May 10, 1995; accepted July 20, 1995.
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