The leading causes of mortality in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) relate to cardiovascular disease (CVD). The contribution of nitric oxide (NO) to endothelial function, a surrogate of CVD risk, is currently unknown in NAFLD. We hypothesize that NO-mediated cutaneous microvessel function would be impaired in NAFLD compared with controls and that exercise would enhance microvessel function compared with conventional care. Thirteen NAFLD patients (aged 50 ± 3 yr, BMI 31 ± 1 kg/m²) and seven controls (48 ± 4 yr, 30 ± 2 kg/m²) were studied. NAFLD patients were randomized to either 16 wk of exercise or conventional care. Cutaneous microvessel function was examined using laser Doppler flowmetry combined with intradermal microdialysis of N(G)-monomethyl-l-arginine to assay the NO dilator response to local forearm heating. Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy quantified abdominal and liver fat, respectively, and cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed. Differences in NO contribution to cutaneous blood flow between NAFLD and control individuals and between interventions were analyzed using general linear modeling. NO contribution to cutaneous blood flow was similar between NAFLD and controls (P = 0.47). Cardiorespiratory fitness was greater following exercise training compared with conventional care. NO contribution to cutaneous blood flow in response to heating at 42°C was 20.4% CVCmax (95% CI = 4.4, 36.4) greater following exercise training compared with conventional care (P = 0.02). Exercise training improves cutaneous microvascular NO function in NAFLD patients. The benefit of exercise training compared with conventional care strongly supports a role for exercise in the prevention of CVD in NAFLD.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 May 2023.
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Outputs from American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology & Metabolism
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#18
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Altmetric has tracked 34,526,284 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 69th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,833 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 49 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.
