TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes in flow-mediated brachial artery vasoactivity with lowering of desirable cholesterol levels in healthy middle-aged men
AU - Vogel, Robert A.
AU - Corretti, Mary C.
AU - Plotnick, Gary D.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the Division of Cardiology, ty of Mar$Ind School of Medicine, ed in part by a research grant from Station, New jersey. Manuscript manuscript received and accepted Address for reorints: Robert A. ogy, University of Marytand Greene Street, Baltimore.
PY - 1996/1/1
Y1 - 1996/1/1
N2 - Current National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines consider desirable total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels to be <200 and <160 mg/dl, respective, for healthy individuals without multiple coronary risk factors. To determine the extent to which these levels affect vascular function, we assessed flow-mediated (endothelium-dependent) brachial artery vasoactivity noninvasively before, during, and after cholesterol lowering (simvastatin 10 mg/day) in 7 healthy middle-aged men with cholesterol levels meeting current recommendations. Flow-mediated brachial artery vasoactivity was measured using 7.5 MHz ultrasound and expressed as percent diameter change from baseline to hyperemic conditions (1 minute following 5 minutes of blood pressure cuff arterial occlusion). Flow-mediated vasoactivity rose from 5.0 ± 3.6% at baseline to 10.5 ± 5.6%, 13.3 ± 4.3%, and 15.7 ± 4.9% (all p <0.05) as cholesterol fell from 200 ± 12 to 161 ± 18, 169 ± 16, and 153 ± 11 mg/dl after 2, 4, and 12 weeks, respectively, of cholesterol-lowering therapy. Vasoactivity and cholesterol returned to baseline levels 12 weeks after simvastatin discontinuation. Overall, vasoactivity was found to correlate inversely with cholesterol levels (r = -0.47, p = 0.004). These data suggest that flow-mediated brachial artery vasoactivity responds rapidly to changes in cholesterol levels and that endothelial function improves by lowering cholesterol levels below recommendations of current guidelines.
AB - Current National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines consider desirable total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels to be <200 and <160 mg/dl, respective, for healthy individuals without multiple coronary risk factors. To determine the extent to which these levels affect vascular function, we assessed flow-mediated (endothelium-dependent) brachial artery vasoactivity noninvasively before, during, and after cholesterol lowering (simvastatin 10 mg/day) in 7 healthy middle-aged men with cholesterol levels meeting current recommendations. Flow-mediated brachial artery vasoactivity was measured using 7.5 MHz ultrasound and expressed as percent diameter change from baseline to hyperemic conditions (1 minute following 5 minutes of blood pressure cuff arterial occlusion). Flow-mediated vasoactivity rose from 5.0 ± 3.6% at baseline to 10.5 ± 5.6%, 13.3 ± 4.3%, and 15.7 ± 4.9% (all p <0.05) as cholesterol fell from 200 ± 12 to 161 ± 18, 169 ± 16, and 153 ± 11 mg/dl after 2, 4, and 12 weeks, respectively, of cholesterol-lowering therapy. Vasoactivity and cholesterol returned to baseline levels 12 weeks after simvastatin discontinuation. Overall, vasoactivity was found to correlate inversely with cholesterol levels (r = -0.47, p = 0.004). These data suggest that flow-mediated brachial artery vasoactivity responds rapidly to changes in cholesterol levels and that endothelial function improves by lowering cholesterol levels below recommendations of current guidelines.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0002-9149(97)89131-X
DO - 10.1016/S0002-9149(97)89131-X
M3 - Article
C2 - 8540454
AN - SCOPUS:0030051944
VL - 77
SP - 37
EP - 40
JO - American Journal of Cardiology
JF - American Journal of Cardiology
SN - 0002-9149
IS - 1
ER -