Shepherd, John Roger Alden

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is postulated to be a major exercise related vasodilating metabolite. In humans, ATP infusion mimics exercise hyperemia. However, it remains unknown whether ATP can evoke the prolonged vasodilation seen during exercise. Therefore we tested two hypotheses during a three‐hour intra‐arterial infusion of a high dose of ATP (20 μgrams ·100 mL forearm vol −1 ·min −1 ): (1) skeletal muscle blood flow would wane over time (tachyphalaxis); (2) exercise hyperemic responses during ATP administration would be blunted compared to baseline. Nine healthy young participants (25 ± 1 years) performed seven rhythmic handgrip exercise bouts (20% of maximum), two during saline (control) and five during 180 minutes of continuous ATP infusion. Forearm vascular conductance (FVC; ml min −1 (100 mmHg) −1 ) and percent (%) change from control were calculated. Five minutes of ATP infusion resulted in a 710% increase in FVC (4.8±0.3 vs 35.0±1.9 ml min −1 *100 mmHg −1 , P<0.05). FVC did not wane over time with values of 35.0±1.9 and 36±2.6 ml min −1 (100 mmHg) −1 (P>0.05) seen prior to the exercise bouts at 5 vs 150 minutes respectively. With superimposed exercise FVC increased from 35.0±1.9 to 49.6±2.2 ml min −1 *100 mmHg −1 at five minutes and 36.0±2.6 to 54.5±1.1 at 150 min (P<0.05). Our findings demonstrate (1) ATP vasodilation is sustained over time without tachyphalaxis; (2) vasodilator responses to exercise during high dose ATP infusion remain intact. This latter finding questions the extent to which ATP is obligatory for exercise hyperemia. Support or Funding Information This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Research Grants HL‐119337 and by CTSA UL1 TR000135. The Caywood Professorship via the Mayo Foundation also supported this research.