Non-invasive techniques to access the skin microcirculation in patients.

The microcirculation is composed of blood vessels with mean internal diameter smaller than 100 μm. This structure is responsible for survival of cells and in the last 50 years its study has become increasingly interesting because it often participates in the pathophysiology of several diseases or can determine better or worse prognosis for them. Due to the growing importance of knowing more about the microcirculation, several techniques have been developed and now it is possible to study its structure or function.

Exercise with blood flow restriction improves muscle strength and mass while preserving the vascular and microvascular function and structure of older adults.

Background: Changes in muscle mass, strength, vascular function, oxidative stress, and inflammatory biomarkers were compared in older adults after resistance training (RT) performed with low-intensity without blood flow restriction (RT-CON); low-intensity with BFR (RT-BFR); and high-intensity without BFR (RT-HI).

Methods: Thirty-two untrained individuals (72±7 y) performed a 12-week RT after being randomized into three groups: RT-CON -30% of 1 repetition maximum (RM); RT-BFR -30% of 1RM and mild BFR (50% of arterial occlusion pressure); RT-HI -70% of 1 RM.

Results: Improvements in handgrip strength were similar in RT-BFR (17%) and RT-HI (16%) vs.

Muscle mass, strength, bone mineral density and vascular function in middle-aged people living with HIV vs. age-matched and older controls.

Introduction: Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) substantially extended the life of people living with HIV (PLHIV). However, prolonged HIV infection and cART increase the risk of comorbidities accelerating age-related muscle, bone, and vascular disorders. This cross-sectional study compared muscle mass and strength, bone mineral density (BMD), and vascular function in middle-aged PLHIV treated with cART vs.

Sarcopenia in the elderly versus microcirculation, inflammation status, and oxidative stress: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Age-related mechanisms of sarcopenia associated with vascular function have been recently suggested. This study compared and tested associations between muscle mass and strength, microcirculation, inflammatory biomarkers, and oxidative stress in older adults classified as sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic.

Methods: Thirty-three physically inactive individuals (72±7 yrs) were assigned to age-matched sarcopenic (SG) and non-sarcopenic (NSG) groups.

Does Resistance Training with Blood Flow Restriction Affect Blood Pressure and Cardiac Autonomic Modulation in Older Adults?

Resistance training (RT) with blood flow restriction (BFR) appears to accelerate muscle hypertrophy and strength gains in older populations. However, the training-related effects of RT with BFR upon blood pressure (BP) and cardiac autonomic modulation in the elderly remains unclear. The objective of this study is to compare the chronic effects of low-intensity RT performed with soft BFR (BFR) .

Acute effects of physical exercise with different levels of blood flow restriction on vascular reactivity and biomarkers of muscle hypertrophy, endothelial function and oxidative stress in young and elderly subjects - A randomized controlled protocol.

Background: Gains in muscle mass and strength have been documented in exercise training with blood flow restriction (BFR). However, the impact of retrograde blood flow during BFR training on vascular health remains unclear. The present study designed a protocol to evaluate the acute effects of exercise performed with different levels of BFR on vascular reactivity and biomarkers of endothelial function, oxidative stress, and muscle hypertrophy in young and older individuals.

Strength training with blood flow restriction - a novel therapeutic approach for older adults with sarcopenia? A case report.

Introduction: A 91-year-old sedentary man presenting exhaustion, lower-limb weakness, hypertension, and history of multiple falls was diagnosed with sarcopenia - appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASM) of 7.10 kg/m.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of strength training performed with low intensity in isolation (LI) or with blood flow restriction (LI-BFR) on strength, muscle mass, IGF-1, endothelial function, microcirculation, inflammatory biomarkers, and oxidative stress.

Microcirculation and biomarkers in patients with resistant or mild-to-moderate hypertension: a cross-sectional study.

Microcirculation influences peripheral vascular resistance and therefore contributes to arterial blood pressure. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between serum markers of inflammation and microcirculatory parameters observed by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) in patients with resistant (RH, 58 [50-63] years, n = 25) or mild-to-moderate hypertension (MMH, 56 [47-64] years, n = 25) compared to normotensive patients (control group (CG), 33 [27-52] years, n = 25). C-reactive protein (CRP), endothelin, adiponectin, I-CAM and V-CAM levels were obtained by laboratory analysis.

Evaluation of endothelial function by VOP and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with arterial hypertension.

Hypertension is associated with microcirculatory impairment. Our objectives were to evaluate endothelial function and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with resistant (RH) and mild to moderate (MMH) arterial hypertension in comparison to normotensives (control group-CG). Three groups, 25 patients each, have been investigated, by anamnesis, venous occlusion plethysmography (VOP) and serum determination of adhesion molecules (VCAM, ICAM), adiponectin, endothelin and C-reactive protein (CRP).

Relationship between biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative stress and endothelial/microcirculatory function in successful aging versus healthy youth: a transversal study.

Background: There is a functional decline of endothelial- dependent vasodilatation in the aging process. The aims of this study were to investigate if various microcirculatory parameters could correlate to anthropometrical variables, oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in successful aging and compare the results to young healthy controls.

Methods: Healthy elderly women (HE, 74.

Preconditioning of the response to ischemia/ reperfusion-induced plasma leakage in hamster cheek pouch microcirculation.

Objective: Ischemic preconditioning and some drugs can protect tissues from injury by preserving microcirculation. This study evaluated vascular permeability in a hamster cheek pouch preparation using either short ischemic periods or bradykinin as preconditioning stimuli followed by 30 min of ischemia/reperfusion.

Method: Sixty-six male hamsters were divided into 11 groups: five combinations of different ischemic frequencies and durations (one, three or five shorts periods of ischemia, separated by one or five minutes) with 10 min intervals between the ischemic periods, followed by 30 min ischemia/reperfusion; three or five 1 min ischemic periods with 10 min intervals between them followed by the topical application of histamine (2 µM); bradykinin (400 nM) followed by 30 min of ischemia/reperfusion; and three control groups (30 min of ischemia/reperfusion or histamine or bradykinin by themselves).

Effects of buflomedil and pentoxifylline on hamster skin-flap microcirculation: prediction of flap viability using orthogonal polarization spectral imaging.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of buflomedil and pentoxifylline, both of which are used in reconstructive surgery of hamster skin flap microcirculation, and evaluated the skin flap survival rate by orthogonal polarization spectral imaging.

Method: Twenty-four adult male Syrian golden hamsters were divided into three groups: a control (C, 0.1 ml 0.

Metabolic disturbances linked to obesity: the role of impaired tissue perfusion.

Associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular events and cancer, obesity is a worldwide problem affecting developed and developing countries. Microcirculatory vessels, represented by arterioles, capillaries and venules (mean internal diameter < 100 microm), are the place where blood/tissue nutrition and exchange effectively take place. Microvascular dysfunction is an early event in obesity probably secondary to endothelial dysfunction and capillaries rarefaction.

Treatment of essential hypertension does not normalize capillary rarefaction.

Objectives: To determine if capillary rarefaction persists when hypertension is treated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, thiazidic diuretic and/or beta-blocker, and to identify which microcirculatory alterations (structural and functional) persist after anti-hypertensive treatment.

Methods: We evaluated 28 well-controlled essential hypertensive patients and 19 normotensive subjects. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy examination of the fourth finger of the left hand was used to determine the functional capillary densities at baseline, during post-occlusive hyperemia, and after venous congestion.

Effects of cilostazol and pentoxifylline on forearm reactive hyperemia response, lipid profile, oxidative stress, and inflammatory markers in patients with intermittent claudication.

Peripheral arterial disease may lead to lower limb claudication and increased risk of systemic vascular dysfunction. In this article, the authors have investigated the peripheral vascular dysfunction evaluating forearm blood flow using venous occlusion plethysmography, lipid profile, and C-reactive protein in 60 patients with moderate intermittent claudication treated during 20 weeks with placebo (n = 16), cilostazol (200 mg/d; n = 17), or pentoxifylline (1200 mg/d; n = 15) in a randomized double-blinded clinical trial, taking into account smoking. Forearm blood flow after reactive hyperemia response (FBF(h) ) or oral nitroglycerine spray to evaluate endothelial-dependent and endothelial-independent vasodilation, respectively, pain-free and maximal walking distance, levels of C-reactive protein, triglycerides, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in plasma were determined.

Use of microcirculatory parameters to evaluate chronic venous insufficiency.

Background: Microcirculatory impairment caused by chronic venous hypertension is usually not taken into account in chronic venous insufficiency, probably due to lack of practical means to observe it. The objective of this work was to use a new noninvasive technique to access quantitatively the cutaneous microangiopathy in female patients classified according to CEAP from C1 to C5 and matched with healthy controls.

Methods: Forty-four patients and 13 healthy subjects (112 lower limbs), with a mean age +/- SD of 48 +/- 8 years, were evaluated by using orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) imaging.