Effect of Age and Fitness on Vascular Function and Oxidative Stress During Acute Inflammation

University of Illinois

Status and phase

Terminated

Phase 4

Conditions

Aging

Inflammation

Treatments

Dietary Supplement: Ascorbic Acid

Biological: Typhoid Vaccine

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT03889158

2018-1550

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study focuses on whether high cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults has a protective effect on the vascular response to acute inflammation in comparison to low-fit older and young adults.

Full description

Acute and chronic inflammation both increase cardiovascular disease risk, especially with aging, which may be due to vascular dysfunction. Aging and inflammation also lead to increased oxidative stress, which impairs vascular function. During acute inflammation, endothelial function is altered differently in younger and older adults with decreases in endothelial function in younger, but not older adults. However, cardiorespiratory fitness is cardio-protective, impacting inflammation, vascular function, and oxidative stress. During acute inflammation, moderately fit older adults exhibit similar responses to younger adults, suggesting preserved endothelial reactivity. However, whether the protective mechanism is oxidative stress has not been confirmed. Furthermore, it is undetermined whether the vascular dysfunction is further propagated down the arterial tree during acute inflammation to the microvasculature.

The aims of this research study are to determine if age and fitness moderate the vascular response to acute inflammation and to determine if antioxidant administration eliminates vascular dysfunction during acute inflammation. The results from this study will help to elucidate if fitness is a protective and preventive measure to ameliorate the detrimental cardiovascular response to acute inflammation. Thus, this study may provide health professionals with a behavioral intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease burden in the rapidly growing aging population.

Enrollment

35 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 75 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Males and females willing to provide informed consent
18-35 or 55-75 years of age
Non-smoker
No use of anti-inflammatory medication within last 2 weeks
Aerobically trained (defined as performing aerobic exercise on ≥4 days/week, for ≥30 minutes, for at least the past 3 months AND a VO2max ≥75th age- and sex-specific percentile according to ACSM)
/// OR /// Sedentary (defined as being involved in less than 30 minutes of moderately-intense physical activity per day, < 3 days/week AND a VO2max ≤ 50th age- and sex-specific percentile according to ACSM)

Exclusion criteria

Body mass index >35 kg/m2
Pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, or peri-menopausal
Known cardiovascular (i.e. atherosclerosis, uncontrolled hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction, etc.), inflammatory (i.e. Crohn's disease, arthritis, etc.), or metabolic (i.e. Diabetes mellitus) disease
Medications known to influence cardiovascular outcomes (i.e. heart rate, blood pressure, endothelial function, etc)
Regular use of medications to reduce inflammation (NSAIDS, aspirin, steroids, etc)
Bleeding disorders
Illness, other vaccination, or antioxidant use within 2 weeks prior to screening
Typhoid vaccination within previous 2 years or prior adverse reaction
VO2max in 51st - 74th age- and sex-specific percentile according to ACSM (measured during first testing visit)
Non-English speaking participants