规律运动增加内皮祖细胞数量和功能改善衰老血管弹性

背景：近来研究发现运动可以增加内皮祖细胞数量和功能，有助于改善内皮功能。但是，运动对是否能通过上调循环内皮祖细胞数量和功能改善衰老血管弹性尚不清楚。 目的：观察规律运动是否通过影响循环内皮祖细胞数量和功能改善衰老所致血管弹性下降。 方法：对10例男性健康青年志愿者和10例健康老年志愿者予以规律运动锻炼3个月，流式细胞仪测定运动前后CD34和KDR双标阳性循环内皮祖细胞水平，乙酰化低密度脂蛋白及凝集素荧光标记方法评估体外培养内皮祖细数量，检测内皮祖细胞的迁移和增殖能力，并测定运动前后脉搏波传导速度的变化。 结果与结论：与健康青年志愿者比较，老年志愿者循环内皮祖细胞数量和功能明显下降，脉搏波传导速度减退。健康志愿者规律运动后循环内皮祖细胞水平较运动前增加，乙酰化低密度脂蛋白及凝集素双阳性内皮祖细胞数量较运动前增加，内皮祖细胞迁移和增殖能力明显增强，脉搏波传导速度下降，老年志愿者变化更为明显。循环内皮祖细胞数量及功能的增加倍数和脉搏波传导速度下降倍数呈明显正相关，多元回归分析显示乙酰化低密度脂蛋白及凝集素双阳性内皮祖细胞及增殖功能的增加倍数是脉搏波传导速度下降倍数的独立预测因素。说明规律运动可通过增加循环内皮祖细胞数量和功能改善衰老所致的血管弹性下降，提示运动调节内皮祖细胞可能是其保护衰老血管损伤的作用机制之一。

Regular exercise improves age-related decline in arterial elasticity by enhancing number and activity of endothelial progenitor cells

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that exercise can increase the number and ability of endothelial progenitor cells which is beneficial to the improvement of endothelial function. However, it is still unclear whether exercise can improve age-related decline in arterial elasticity by enhancing number and activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether regular exercise-induced enhanced circulating endothelial progenitor cells improves age-related decline in arterial elasticity in healthy men. METHODS: Effects of regular exercise on circulating endothelial progenitor cells of 10 older and 10 young healthy men undergoing 3 months regular exercise were observed. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to evaluate the number of CD34 and KDR double-positive labeled circulating endothelial progenitor cells before and after exercise, and acetylated low-density lipoprotein; and lectin fluorescent staining method was used to evaluate the number of cultured endothelial progenitor cells. The migratory and proliferative activities of endothelial progenitor cells were also evaluated. In addition, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities of older and young sedentary healthy men were measured. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with young healthy men, the older healthy men exhibited decreased number and activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and increased brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities. Flow cytometry analysis showed that the circulating endothelial progenitor cells positive for CD34 and KDR in the peripheral blood increased after regular exercise. The acetylated-low-density lipoprotein and lectin fluorescent staining method indicated that the cultured endothelial progenitor cells also increased after exercise. The proliferative and migratory activities of cultured endothelial progenitor cells were significantly higher after exercise. However, the increased number and activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and decreased brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities of older sedentary healthy men were higher. There was a closely positive correlation between increased circulating endothelial progenitor cells and decreased brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities. Multivariate analysis identified increased proliferative activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells as an independent predictor of decreased brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities. Regular exercise-induced enhanced number and activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells attenuates age-related decline in arterial elasticity, indicating that the modulation of exercise on circulating endothelial progenitor cells may be the mechanism underlying exercise-exhibited protection against age-related vascular injury.