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

反应性充血（RHE）检测内皮功能的评价方法有助于早期发现动脉粥样硬化的变化。外周动脉疾病等动脉粥样硬化变化在腿部比在手臂中发现得更多，然而，由于测量“腿部”RHE的技术困难，目前使用超声图（FMD）或外周张力计（EndoPAT）评估内皮功能的方法仅限于“手臂”RHE。本研究建立了一种新的方法来测量“腿”RHE使用近红外时间分辨光谱（NIRTRS）。在臂部RHE谱中，20、50、70岁组间无显著性差异，而下肢RHE谱中，50、70岁组均低于20岁组。因此，近红外热像光谱法测定的下肢RHE可作为检测血管功能增龄早期变化和评价药物对血管功能变化影响的生物标志物。

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.