Establishment of novel evaluation methods to measure endothelial functions as a clinical pharmacological tool

使用反应性充血（RHE）测量内皮功能的评估方法对于检测动脉粥样硬化改变的早期阶段是有用的。动脉粥样硬化改变，如外周动脉疾病，在腿部比在手臂中更常见，然而，由于测量“腿部”RHE的技术困难，目前用超声图（FMD）或外周血压计（EndoPAT）评估内皮功能的方法仅限于“手臂”RHE。本研究建立了一种利用近红外时间分辨光谱（NIRTRS）测量“腿”RHE的新方法。在NIRTRS测量的手臂RHE中，20多岁、50多岁和70多岁男性的RHE模式没有差异，但50多岁和70多岁男性的腿部RHE模式低于20多岁男性。因此，通过NIRTRS测量的腿部RHE可以作为检测血管功能衰老早期变化和评估药物对血管功能变化的影响的生物标志物。

The evaluation method using reactive hyperemia (RHE) to measure endothelial function is useful for detecting the early phase of atherosclerotic changes. Atherosclerotic changes like peripheral arterial disease are found much more in legs than in arms, however, the current methods for evaluating endothelial function with ultrasound graph (FMD) or peripheral tonometry (EndoPAT) are limited to ‘arm’ RHE due to technical difficulties in measuring ‘leg’ RHE. The present study established a novel method to measure ‘leg’ RHE by using a near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy (NIRTRS). In arm RHE measured by NIRTRS, there was no difference of RHE patterns among 20s, 50s and 70s men groups, however the leg RHE patterns of 50s and 70s men groups were lower than that of 20s men group. Thus, the leg RHE measured by NIRTRS could be a biomarker for detecting the early phase of aging changes in vascular function and evaluating drug effectson the vascular functional changes.