Effect of exercise conditioning on coronary resistance.

Diastolic coronary resistance (DCR) was determined in seven conscious dogs in the untrained state and after 4-5 wk of daily exercise conditioning (partial training). The conditioning regime consisted of treadmill running 5 days/wk. The dogs were instrumented to measure aortic pressure and left circumflex coronary flow during atrial pacing with implanted electrodes. Heart rate was varied from the resting value to 240 beats/min before and after adrenergic blockade with propranolol (beta B, 1 mg/kg) or phentolamine (alpha B, 1 mg/kg); myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) was measured in three dogs under the same condition in both the untrained (UT) and partially trained (PT) condition. DCR decreased with increasing heart rate [from 4.75 +/- 0.56 (SE) to 2.48 +/- 0.22 Torr . ml-1 . min at 240 beats/min]; alpha B reduced DCR, whereas beta B increased DCR. In the PT condition, DCR decreased to 4.02 +/- 0.40 Torr . ml-1 . min at rest and was decreased to 1.82 +/- 0.16 Torr . ml-1 . min at 240 beats/min (P less than 0.05 compared with UT). alpha-Adrenergic and beta-adrenergic blockade in the PT condition resulted in parallel reduction in DCR compared with the UT condition. MVO2 was unaffected by either PT or adrenergic blockade but increased as heart rate increased with atrial pacing. These data suggest a change in caliber of the coronary resistance vessel because of the parallel shift in the relationship between DCR and heart rate.