Journal
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE PHYSIOLOGIE APPLIQUEE
Volume 28, Issue 2, Pages 204-212Publisher
HUMAN KINETICS PUBL INC
DOI: 10.1139/h03-016
Keywords
elastin; collagen; exercise training
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Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [AG000847] Funding Source: Medline
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Arterial stiffness increases with age in healthy sedentary adults. We previously reported that the age-related increases in arterial stiffness are absent or attenuated in regularly exercising adults. However the mechanism underlying this training effect is unknown. One possibility is that regular exercise minimizes age-related changes in the arterial wall composition of elastin and collagen. To gain insight into this issue, we studied four groups of rats (N = 23): young (42-46 wks) and old (80-84 wks), sedentary and exercise-trained. The exercise group swam 1 hr(.)d(-1), 6 d(.)wk(-1) for 17-21 weeks. There was no significant difference in the incremental elastic modulus between young sedentary and exercise-trained rats. The elastic moduli of the old exercise-trained rats were 31% lower than in the old sedentary controls. As such, the magnitude of age-related increase in the elastic modulus was smaller in the exercise-trained (110%) vs. the sedentary group (151%) (p < 0.05). In both activity groups, elastin content was lower and collagen content was higher in old vs. young rats (p < 0.05). However there were no significant differences between the two activity groups. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that regular physical exercise minimizes age-related compositional changes in the arterial wall and attenuates the age-related increase in arterial stiffness.
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