Passive mobilization‐induced vascular function adaptations in bedridden oldest‐old.

Abstract

BackgroundWith aging, vascular function (VF) declines. Furthermore, a conspicuous number of oldest‐old individuals are in chronically bedridden, and literature indicates that chronic immobility exacerbates VF decline. Although studies have suggested that passive mobilization of the limbs (PM) may improve local VF, the effect of PM on nitric oxide (NO)‐mediated VF has not been studied yet.AimTo determine whether PM is effective to counteract VF worsening in bedridden oldest‐old. We hypothesized that bedridden patients who underwent a month of PM would have gained significant improvement in NO‐mediated VF.MethodsTwenty bedridden individuals (86±7 yrs) were randomly assigned to PM or control (CT) group, treated with standard therapies only. PM groups underwent a program of 30 min of passive knee (flexo‐extension) mobilization (4‐week, twice a day/5 days a week) in addition to their standard therapies. Ight before, right after and a month after the treatment, NO‐mediated VF was measured by means of single passive limb movement (sPLM) test.ResultsAll PM patients completed all sessions. Concerning sPLM test, right after the treatment PM group improved significantly sPLMpeak (+33%), ΔPLM (+55%), as well as Area Under the Curve (AUC, +200%). However, a month after the treatment, all the assessed parameters have returned close to basal levels. CT group did not exhibit any change in VF.ConclusionResults suggest that the reduction in VF exhibited in chronically bedridden oldest‐old individuals can be reversed by a PM program. Whether performed continously, PM seems to be an effective strategy to counteract the deleterious effects of bedridden on VF.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.