scholarly journals Exercise Training Enhances Angiogenesis-Related Gene Responses in Skeletal Muscle of Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1915
Author(s):  
Andrea Tryfonos ◽  
Giorgos Tzanis ◽  
Theodore Pitsolis ◽  
Eleftherios Karatzanos ◽  
Michael Koutsilieris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Strength Training ◽  
Vastus Lateralis ◽  
Vastus Lateralis Muscle ◽  
Vascular Endothelial ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Endothelial Growth Factor

Peripheral myopathy consists of a hallmark of heart failure (HF). Exercise enhanced skeletal muscle angiogenesis, and thus, it can be further beneficial towards the HF-induced myopathy. However, there is limited evidence regarding the exercise type that elicits optimum angiogenic responses of skeletal muscle in HF patients. This study aimed to (a) compare the effects of a high-intensity-interval-training (HIIT) or combined HIIT with strength training (COM) exercise protocol on the expression of angiogenesis-related factors in skeletal muscle of HF patients, and (b) examine the potential associations between the expression of those genes and capillarization in the trained muscles. Thirteen male patients with chronic HF (age: 51 ± 13 y; BMI: 27 ± 4 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to a 3-month exercise program that consisted of either HIIT (N = 6) or COM training (N = 7). Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were performed pre- and post-training. RT-PCR was used to quantify the fold changes in mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α), angiopoietin 1 (Ang-1), angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2), angiopoietin receptor (Tie2), and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), and immunohistochemistry to assess capillarization in skeletal muscle post-training. There was an overall increase in the expression levels of VEGF, VEGFR-2, HIF-1α, Ang2, and MMP9 post-training, while these changes were not different among groups. Changes in capillary-to-fibre ratio were found to be strongly associated with Tie2 and HIF-1α expression. This was the first study demonstrating that both HIIT and combined HIIT with strength training enhanced similarly the expression profile of angiogenic factors in skeletal muscle of HF patients, possibly driving the angiogenic program in the trained muscles, although those gene expression increases were found to be only partially related with muscle capillarization.

scholarly journals Myocyte vascular endothelial growth factor is required for exercise-induced skeletal muscle angiogenesis

2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (4) ◽  
pp. R1059-R1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Mark Olfert ◽  
Richard A. Howlett ◽  
Peter D. Wagner ◽  
Ellen C. Breen
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Exercise Training ◽  
Metabolic Adaptation ◽  
Vascular Endothelial ◽  
Vegf Expression ◽  
Running Speed ◽  
Endothelial Growth Factor ◽  
Adaptation To Exercise

We have previously shown, using a Cre-LoxP strategy, that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is required for the development and maintenance of skeletal muscle capillarity in sedentary adult mice. To determine whether VEGF expression is required for skeletal muscle capillary adaptation to exercise training, gastrocnemius muscle capillarity was measured in myocyte-specific VEGF gene-deleted (mVEGF−/−) and wild-type (WT) littermate mice following 6 wk of treadmill running (1 h/day, 5 days/wk) at the same running speed. The effect of training on metabolic enzyme activity levels and whole body running performance was also evaluated in mVEGF−/− and WT mice. Posttraining capillary density was significantly increased by 59% ( P < 0.05) in the deep muscle region of the gastrocnemius in WT mice but did not change in mVEGF−/− mice. Maximal running speed and time to exhaustion during submaximal running increased by 20 and 13% ( P < 0.05), respectively, in WT mice after training but were unchanged in mVEGF−/− mice. Training led to increases in skeletal muscle citrate synthase (CS) and phosphofructokinase (PFK) activities in both WT and mVEGF−/− mice ( P < 0.05), whereas β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD) activity was increased only in WT mice. These data demonstrate that skeletal muscle capillary adaptation to physical training does not occur in the absence of myocyte-expressed VEGF. However, skeletal muscle metabolic adaptation to exercise training takes place independent of myocyte VEGF expression.

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