tpassive leg movement enhances interstitial VEGF protein, endothelial cell proliferation, and eNOS mRNA content in human skeletal muscle

摘要

Passive movement of the lower leg leads to an enhancement in blood flow with a negligible effect on muscle metabolism (23). The increase in blood flow that occurs during passive movement of the leg is therefore likely to be coupled to mechanical factors, where compression and stretch of the vasculature may be primary factors causing an increase in flow and thereby shear stress.Passive limb movement also leads to stretch of the muscle fibers in the quadriceps muscle, which could be a contributing factor in angiogenesis. It should be noted, however, that a difference between the present model and the above-described rodent model, used to study the role of mechanical stretch in angiogenesis (9), is that the present model is not paralleled by mechanical overload, and therefore the impact of stretch is likely to be smaller.