Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Are Associated With Age-Related Endothelial Dysfunction in Men With Low Testosterone.

Context: Vascular aging, including endothelial dysfunction secondary to oxidative stress and inflammation, increases the risk for age-associated cardiovascular disease (CVD). Low testosterone in middle-aged/older men is associated with increased CVD risk.

Objective: We hypothesized that low testosterone contributes to age-associated endothelial dysfunction, related in part to greater oxidative stress and inflammation.

Assessment of macrovascular and microvascular function in aging males.

Aging is associated with reductions in endothelial function, observations primarily reported using brachial artery ultrasound. There is growing interest in the use of peripheral artery tonometry (PAT) of microvessels in the fingertip to assess endothelial function because it is less technically demanding and has a high sensitivity and specificity for assessing coronary endothelial function. Moreover, similar to brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), PAT predicts cardiovascular disease outcomes.