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Dietary nitrate (NO-3 ) is converted to nitrite (NO-2 ) and can be further reduced to the vasodilator nitric oxide (NO) amid a low O2 environment. Accordingly, dietary NO-3 increases hind limb blood flow in rats during treadmill exercise; however, the evidence of such an effect in humans is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that acute dietary NO-3 (via beetroot [BR] juice) increases forearm blood flow (FBF) via local vasodilation during handgrip exercise in young adults (n = 11; 25 - 2 years). FBF (Doppler ultrasound) and blood pressure (Finapres) were measured at rest and during graded handgrip exercise at 5%, 15%, and 25% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) lasting 4 min each. At the highest workload (25% MVC), systemic hypoxia (80% SaO2) was induced and exercise continued for three additional minutes. Subjects ingested concentrated BR (12.6 mmol nitrate (n = 5) or 16.8 mmol nitrate (n = 6) and repeated the exercise bout either 2 (12.6 mmol) or 3 h (16.8 mmol) postconsumption. Compared to control, BR significantly increased FBF at 15% MVC (184 ±15 vs. 164 - 15 mL/min), 25% MVC (323 ±27 vs. 286 ±28 mL/min), and 25% + hypoxia (373 ±39 vs. 343 ±32 mL/min) and this was due to increases in vascular conductance (i.e., vasodilation). The effect of BR on hemodynamics was not different between the two doses of BR ingested. Forearm VO2 was also elevated during exercise at 15% and 25% MVC. We conclude that acute increases in circulating NO-3 and NO-2 via BR increases muscle blood flow during moderate- to high-intensity handgrip exercise via local vasodilation. These findings may have important implications for aging and diseased populations that demonstrate impaired muscle perfusion and exercise intolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In healthy humans, ageing is typically associated with reduced skeletal muscle blood flow and vascular conductance during exercise. Further, there is a marked increase in resting sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity with age, yet whether augmented SNS-mediated α-adrenergic vasoconstriction contributes to the age-associated impairment in exercisingmuscle blood flow and vascular tone in humans is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that SNS-mediated vasoconstriction is greater in older than young adults and limits muscle (forearm) blood flow (FBF) during graded handgrip exercise (5, 15, 25% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)). FBF was measured (Doppler ultrasound) and forearm vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated in 11 young (21 ± 1 years) and 12 older (62 ± 2 years) adults in control conditions and during combined local α- and β-adrenoreceptor blockade via intra-arterial infusions of phentolamine and propranolol, respectively. Under control conditions, older adults exhibited significantly lower FBF and FVC at 15% MVC exercise (22.6 ± 1.3 vs. 29 ± 3.3 ml min-1 100 g forearm fat-free mass (FFM)-1 and 21.7 ± 1.2 vs. 33.6 ± 4.0 ml min-1 100 g FFM-1 100 mmHg-1; P < 0.05) and 25% MVC exercise (37.4 ± 1.4 vs. 46.0 ± 4.9 ml min-1 100 g FFM-1 and 33.7 ± 1.4 vs. 49.0 ± 5.7 ml min-1 100 g FFM-1 100 mmHg-1; P < 0.05), whereas there was no age group difference at 5% MVC exercise. Local adrenoreceptor blockade increased FBF and FVC at rest and during exercise in both groups, although the increase in FBF and FVC from rest to steady-state exercise was similar in young and older adults across exercise intensities, and thus the age-associated impairment in FBF and FVC persisted. Our data indicate that during graded intensity handgrip exercise, the reduced FVC and subsequently lower skeletal muscle blood flow in older healthy adults is not due to augmented sympathetic vasoconstriction, but rather due to impairments in local signalling or structural limitations in the peripheral vasculature with advancing age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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