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. 2022 Jul;38(4):516-520.
doi: 10.6515/ACS.202207_38(4).20220221B.

A Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Increases the Acute Response of Endothelial Progenitor Cells to Maximal Exercise in Heart Failure Patients

Christos Kourek  1 , Stavros Dimopoulos  1   2 , Manal Alshamari  1 , Virginia Zouganeli  3 , Katherina Psarra  4 , Georgios Mitsiou  1 , Argyrios Ntalianis  5 , Theodoros Pittaras  6 , Serafim Nanas  1 , Eleftherios Karatzanos  1
Affiliations

A Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Increases the Acute Response of Endothelial Progenitor Cells to Maximal Exercise in Heart Failure Patients

Christos Kourek et al. Acta Cardiol Sin. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a cardiac rehabilitation program on the acute response on endothelial progenitor cells and circulating endothelial cells after maximal exercise in patients with chronic heart failure of different severity.

Methods: Forty-four chronic heart failure patients were enrolled in a 36-session cardiac rehabilitation program. All patients underwent an initial maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test before and a final maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test after the cardiac rehabilitation program. The patients were divided in two groups of severity according to the median value of peak VO2. Blood was collected at 4 time points; 2 time points at rest, and 2 time points after each cardiopulmonary exercise test. Five endothelial cellular populations were quantified by flow cytometry.

Results: Although there was a higher increase in the mobilization of subgroups of endothelial progenitor cells and circulating endothelial cells after the final cardiopulmonary exercise test compared to the initial test within each severity group (p < 0.05), no significant differences between severity groups were observed (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: A 36-session cardiac rehabilitation program had similar beneficial effects on the acute response of endothelial progenitor cells and circulating endothelial cells after maximal exercise in patients with chronic heart failure of different severity.

Keywords: Acute maximal exercise; Cardiac rehabilitation; Chronic heart failure; Endothelial progenitor cells; Exercise; Severity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Boxplots representing the acute response of the mobilization of each endothelial cellular population after the initial and the final cardiopulmonary exercise training within and between patients with chronic heart failure of high and low severity, based on peak VO2. The asterisk (*) indicates statistically significant difference within each severity group (p < 0.05). No differences were observed between patients of high and low severity in each endothelial cellular population (p > 0.05). CPET, cardiopulmonary exercise test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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