Vasoconstrictor Responsiveness in Contracting Muscle of CKD: Influence of Acute Curcumin Supplementation

Active muscles require an optimal amount of local blood flow to meet the functional and metabolic demand of the exercising muscle. It is well known that maximal aerobic work capacity and exercise tolerance are reduced in CKD, contributing to functional impairment and loss of independence. A multitude of factors may be responsible for this outcome including reduced blood flow to active muscle beds brought on by greater levels of oxidative stress in CKD. Aging and some individuals with disease (coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes) exhibit elevated resting sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), leading to greater vasoconstriction and pressor responses during exercise. However, the magnitude of this effect remains unknown in CKD. Importantly, there are a lack of interventions aimed at improving blood flow and reduce sympathetic mediated vasoconstriction in patients with CKD.

Recent evidence in aging humans suggest that curcumin supplementation improves vascular function by reducing oxidative stress. However, it remains unknown whether acute curcumin supplementation can be regarded as an effective therapeutic strategy aimed at modulating exercise vasodilation and sympathetic mediated vasoconstriction in CKD. Understanding the mechanisms that impair vascular function within exercising muscle is important when understanding implications for systemic blood pressure regulation, cardiovascular disease and functional work capacity in CKD. Therefore, identifying a low cost, non-pharmaceutical intervention and its potential impact on improving vascular function in CKD is a priority in preventative cardiovascular disease medicine.

The present proposal aims to examine the effect of sympathetic vasoconstriction on the differential changes in exercising blood flow in response to acute oral supplementation with curcumin in patients with CKD.