EFFECT OF INTENSIVE WALKING EXERCISE ON SKELETAL-MUSCLE BLOOD-FLOW ININTERMITTENT CLAUDICATION

Walking exercise is generally accepted as a valid therapeutic regimen in the treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) of Fo ntaine stage II. In order to quantify the effect of walking exercise a nd/or drug therapy on regional muscular blood flow, PAOD Fontaine stag e II was induced by multiple ligations of the femoral artery and of al l side branches in one hindlimb of mongrel dogs; the contralateral ext remity served as control. The animals underwent walking exercise with increasing intensities on a tread mill five days per week over one yea r; one group received 600 mg buflomedil (BF) per day orally in additio n. At the end of the training period, the regional blood flow in all s keletal muscles of both hindlimbs was quantified by means of 15 mum ra dioactively labeled microspheres at resting conditions, after treadmil l exercise (ten minutes) with or without preinjection of BF (3 mg/kg b ody weight) into the abdominal aorta. At resting condition and at the end of treadmill exercise the regional muscular blood flow did not dif fer significantly between the diseased and control extremity. Suppleme ntary oral treatment with BF over one year had no significant effect; the increase in muscular blood flow during treadmill exercise was not enhanced after intra-aortic injection of BF. Consequently walking exer cise has the potential to increase the functional capacity of collater als in intermittent claudication and to restore blood supply to skelet al muscle.