Effects of resveratrol or estradiol on post-exercise endothelial function in estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women
Cemal Ozemek, j appl physiol. .2020
Regular exercise enhances endothelial function in older men, but not consistently in estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women. Estradiol treatment improves basal endothelial function and restores improvements in endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation, FMD) to aerobic exercise training in postmenopausal women, however, estradiol treatment is controversial.
Resveratrol, an estrogen receptor ligand, enhances exercise training effects on cardiovascular function and nitric oxide (NO) release in animal models, but impairs exercise training effects in men.
We conducted a randomized cross-over, double-blinded, placebo-controlled pilot study to determine if acute (single dose) resveratrol (250 mg tablet) or estradiol (0.05 mg/day transdermal patch) treatment enhances FMD at rest and after a single bout of moderate intensity aerobic exercise in healthy estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women (n=15, 58.1 ± 3.2 yr). FMD was measured before and after (30, 60 and 120 min) a 40-min bout of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise (60-75% peak heart rate) under the respective conditions (separated by 1-2 weeks). FMD was higher (P<0.05) before exercise and at all after exercise time points in the resveratrol and estradiol conditions compared to placebo. FMD was increased from baseline by 120 min post-exercise in the estradiol condition (P<0.001), but not resveratrol or PL conditions. Consistent with our previous findings, estradiol also enhances endothelial function in response to acute endurance exercise. Although resveratrol improved basal FMD, there was no apparent enhancement of FMD to the acute exercise and therefore may not act as an estradiol mimetic.