Leg vascular and skeletal muscle mitochondrial adaptations to aerobic high‐intensity exercise training are enhanced in the early postmenopausal phase

摘要

Key points class="unordered" style="list-style-type:disc" id="tjp12282-list-0001">Exercise training effectively improves vascular and skeletal muscle function; however, these effects of training may be blunted in postmenopausal women as a result of the loss of oestrogens.Accordingly, the capacity to deliver oxygen to the active muscles may also be impaired in postmenopausal women.In both premenopausal and recent postmenopausal women, exercise training was shown to improve leg vascular and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function. Interestingly, these effects were more pronounced in postmenopausal women.Skeletal muscle oxygen supply and utilization were similar in the two groups of women.These findings suggest that the early postmenopausal phase is associated with an enhanced capacity of the leg vasculature and skeletal muscle mitochondria to adapt to exercise training and that the ability to deliver oxygen to match the demand of the active muscles is preserved in the early phase following the menopausal transition.