Both physical fitness and acute exercise regulate nitric oxide
formation in healthy man.
Jungersten, Lennart, Anneli Ambring, Bj[grave]arn Wall, and
[umlaut]uke Wennmalm.
Department of Clinical Physiology, G[umlaut]uteborg University,
Sahlgrenska University Hospital, S-413 45 G[umlaut]uteborg,
Sweden
APStracts 3:0557A, 1996.
We analyzed nitrate, a major stable end-product of NO metabolism in
vivo, in plasma and urine from groups of healthy subjects with
different working capacity. Resting plasma nitrate was higher in
athletic subjects than in non-athletic controls (452 vs. 342 mol/L;
meanSE, p<0.01). In other subjects, both the resting plasma
nitrate level (r = 0.53; p<0.01) and the urinary excretion of
nitrate at rest (r = 0.46; p<0.01) correlated to the subjects
peak work rate, as determined by bicycle ergometry. Two hours of
physical exercise elevated plasma nitrate by 184 (p<0.01) and
166 (p<0.01) %, respectively, in athletes and non-athletes, as
compared to resting nitrate before exercise. We conclude that
physical fitness and formation of NO at rest are positively linked to
each other. Furthermore, a single session of exercise elicits an
acute elevation of NO formation. The observed positive relation
between physical exercise and NO formation may help to explain the
beneficial effects of physical exercise on cardiovascular health.
Received 25 June 1996; accepted in final form 4 November 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A596-6.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 31 December 1996