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Received May 12, 2003
Revised June 11, 2003
Accepted after revision October 21, 2003
1 Université de Saint Etienne, France
2 Department of Physical Education and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
3 Laboratory of Physiology, GIP Exercice-Sport-Santé
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nadia.charifi{at}univ-st-etienne.fr.
Muscle microvascularization is usually quantified in transverse sections, in absolute terms (capillaries around fibres, CAF or capillary-to-fibre ratio, C/F) or CAF related to fibre area (CAF/area, CAFA). The capillary-to-fibre perimeter exchange ratio (CFPE) has been introduced in order to assess the role of the capillary-to-fibre interface in resistance to O2 diffusion. The ratio between the length of capillaries in contact with fibres and fibre perimeter has also been used as an index for capillary tortuosity (LC/PF). The possibility of change in capillary tortuosity with endurance training was not retained in previous studies. Consequently, this study investigated the effect of 14 weeks of endurance training on muscle microvascularization including microvessel tortuosity in 11 elderly men (8th decade). Microvessels were analysed using the CD31 antibody. Together with the significant increase in VO2 peak and citrate synthase activity, there was a significant increase in C/F. While CFPE and CAFA remained unchanged, an important finding was the clear increase in LC/PF (56% ; P<0.001) for a same sarcomere length. We also found a strong correlation between oxidative enzyme activity and LC/PF both before and after training. These results indicate that endurance training induces significant remodelling in the microvessel network in elderly men and that an increase in microvessel tortuosity number would be an important mechanism of adaptation to endurance training.
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