Eccentric exercise improves myocardial oxygen supply/demand balance with decelerating aortic diastolic pressure decay: The acute and chronic studies

Both eccentric (ECC) and concentric (CON) exercises improve energy expenditure and blood lipid profile. Although ECC exercise has a more beneficial effect on these factors than CON exercise, its benefits on vital organs are still unclear. This study investigated the mode-of-action-dependent effects on myocardial perfusion index. Seventeen healthy men (age: 26 ± 5 years) were randomly enrolled in CON (n = 9) and ECC (n = 8) groups. Transient exercise and regular training (three-day a week for 4-week) included bicep curl comprising 5-set of 10-repetition, each using 75% one-repetition maximum concentric loading. The ECC group performed one-repetition of ECC for 3-s and CON for 1-s, while the CON group performed one-repetition of CON for 3-s and ECC for 1-s. All participants were assessed for subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR, myocardial perfusion index) and aortic diastolic pressure decay. Before study, these were found to be same for both groups. Transient (ΔSEVR: 20.3 ± 13.3%, p = 0.01; Δdecay: −0.07 ± 0.02 s⁻¹, p <.001) and regular (ΔSEVR: 18.5 ± 12.8%, p =.001; Δdecay: −0.06 ± 0.05 s⁻¹, p =.004) ECC (but not CON) exercises significantly increased SEVR and decelerated decay. Increased SEVR with ECC exercise was associated with decelerated decay (transient ECC: r² = 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.95 to −0.10, p =.03; regular ECC: r² = 0.53, 95% CI = −0.95 to −0.05, p =.04). These findings suggest that ECC exercise improves myocardial perfusion and diastolic pressure contour is involved in physiological mechanisms.