CLINICAL STUDY
Gender differences in wall shear–mediated brachial artery vasoconstriction and vasodilation
Jaime Levenson, MD*,a,
Franco Pessana, E. ENG ,
Jerome Gariepy, MDa,
Ricardo Armentano, PhD and
Alain Simon, MDa
a Centre de Médecine Préventive Cardiovasculaire, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Hôpital Broussais, Paris, France
Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Manuscript received February 15, 2001;
revised manuscript received July 16, 2001,
accepted August 13, 2001.
* Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Jaime Levenson, Hôpital Broussais, 96 Rue Didot, 75674, Paris Cedex 14, France
levenso{at}worldnet.fr
OBJECTIVES
We sought to investigate wall shear rate (WSR) and brachial artery diameter (BAD) changes simultaneously and to determine whether any gender differences exist in arterial reactivity.
BACKGROUND
Wall shear rate/stress and arterial reactivity are rarely assessed at the same time. Furthermore, flow-mediated vasoconstriction has received less attention than flow-mediated vasodilation in humans.
METHODS
A new noninvasive evaluation of WSR in the brachial artery, using multigated, pulsed Doppler velocimeter and a double-transducer probe moved and fixed by a robotic system, was developed.
RESULTS
The validity of the system was tested in vitro with calibrated tubes and showed a high correlation (r = 0.98, p < 0.001). In 10 men and 10 women of similar age, induction of low and high shear rates by forearm occlusion produced significant vasoconstriction and vasodilation, respectively. The time lag for maximal BAD changes was 3 min for vasoconstriction and 1 min for vasodilation. A greater half-time for vasodilation (96 ± 6 for men and 86 ± 12 s for women) than for shear rate (31 ± 5 s for men and 34 ± 4 s for women) was observed after discontinuation of occlusion. Relative BAD was correlated with WSR changes, showing a significantly higher slope in women than in men (p < 0.01). Moreover, a larger normalized arterial diameter per shear rate was observed for vasoconstriction (p < 0.01) and vasodilation (p < 0.01) in women than in men.
CONCLUSIONS
Shear-mediated arterial vasodilation and vasoconstriction were more pronounced in women than in men, suggesting different gender-related sensitivity in the regulation of large-artery vascular tone.
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
| | BAD | = brachial artery diameter | | BMI | = body mass index | | DBP | = diastolic blood pressure | | HR | = heart rate | | SBP | = systolic blood pressure | | WSR | = wall shear rate |
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