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Exercise before and during pregnancy does not lower blood pressure in an sFlt‐1 infusion model of preeclampsia in the rat (1084.9)
Author(s) -
Banek Christopher,
Gillham Haley,
Needham Karen,
Johnson Sarah,
Beasley Kara,
Gilbert Jeffrey
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1084.9
Subject(s) - preeclampsia , endocrinology , medicine , blood pressure , endothelial dysfunction , vascular endothelial growth factor , pregnancy , biology , vegf receptors , genetics
Preeclampsia (PE) is a pervasive, pregnancy‐specific syndrome defined by new onset hypertension and proteinuria. Additionally, PE is often associated with increased soluble VEGF Receptor‐1 (sFlt‐1), decreasing the bioavailability of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) creating angiogenic imbalance leading endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. We recently reported exercise training attenuates placental ischemia‐induced hypertension and restores angiogenic balance but the mechanism remains unclear. Thus, we hypothesized exercise training before and during (EBD) pregnancy would increase plasma free VEGF and lower blood pressure in an sFlt‐1 infusion model of PE. EBD rats voluntarily exercised for six weeks before and during pregnancy on an activity wheel. Age‐matched sedentary (Sed) controls were housed without wheel access. After breeding, the dams regained access to the activity wheels. Osmotic minipumps infused sFlt‐1 (500ng/hr) or vehicle from gestational day 14 to day 19 when blood pressures and tissues were collected. In both Sed and EBD groups, sFlt‐1 infusion increased (p<0.05) blood pressure, decreased (p<0.05) endothelial dependent vascular relaxation of mesenteric vessels via wire myography to acetylcholine (ACh) and decreased (p<0.05) endothelial tube formation by HUVECs on Matrigel. EBD had no effect on sFlt‐1 hypertension but improved (p<0.05) vascular endothelial relaxation to ACh and improved (p<0.05) HUVEC tubule formation. In contrast with our hypothesis, these data suggest sFlt‐1‐induced hypertension in pregnancy is not remediated by EBD despite improved tubule formation in vitro and vascular endothelial function ex vivo. Together these data suggest improvements in vascular endothelial function as a result of exercise before and during pregnancy may be due to the stimulation of alternative pro‐angiogenic and vasorelaxant pathways. Further studies are underway to elucidate these alternative mechanisms. Grant Funding Source : Supported by NIH RO1HL114096 and AHA 10SDG2600040