Metaboreflex-induced Functional Coronary Vasoconstriction

How does the muscle metaboreflex work to regulate coronary blood flow during exercise, particularly in the cardiovascular disease state of hypertension? Listen as Editor in Chief Irving H. Zucker (University of Nebraska Medical Center) interviews lead author Donal O’Leary (Wayne State University School of Medicine) and content expert David Stepp (Augusta University) about the large animal study conducted by O’Leary and colleagues, a technical tour de force which explored whether blocking an increase in vasoconstriction due to increased sympathetic activity in the heart would actually increase coronary blood flow and increase ventricular function. Does this elegant study make the case for focusing on coronary blood flow, rather than blood pressure, as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of hypertension? Listen to find out.

 

Marty D. Spranger, Jasdeep Kaur, Javier A. Sala-Mercado, Abhinav C. Krishnan, Rania Abu-Hamdah, Alberto Alvarez, Tiago M. Machado, Robert A. Augustyniak, Donal S. O'Leary Exaggerated coronary vasoconstriction limits muscle metaboreflex-induced increases in ventricular performance in hypertension Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published online October 21, 2016. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00417.2016