The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of exogenous L-arginine on the capillary blood flow of peripheral tissues of normotensive subjects. Rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital, and the blood flow of femoral, dorsal, and ventral skin and gastrocnemius and soleus muscle was measured by laser Doppler flow and microsphere methods to compare the blood flow before and after the L-arginine infusion. L-Arginine lowered the mean blood pressure in a dose-dependent manner, but a statistically significant reduction in mean blood pressure was detected only at a high dose of 500 mg/kg of body weight. The significant blood flow increment was detected after the L-arginine infusion at doses of 50 and 150 mg/kg without causing hypotension. Nicardipine, a calcium channel blocker, also increased the skin blood flow, but the blood flow increment and blood pressure fall were comparable. A significant increment in microperfusion was detected in gastrocnemius, soleus muscle, and ventral skin compared with control group by the microsphere method. No adverse effects were observed during L-arginine and microsphere infusion. The present work indicates that L-arginine infusion increases muscle capillary blood flow in rats that are not performing exercise. Supplementation with L-arginine might provide additional blood flow at rest and during exercise and result in the improvement of muscle performance and exercise capacity.exercise ͉ nitric oxide N itric oxide (NO) is a widespread signaling molecule that is involved in mammalian physiological processes including the relaxation of blood vessels (1-3), immune function (4), inhibition of platelet aggregation (5, 6), and neurotransmission (7). The amino acid L-arginine is the natural precursor for the formation of NO (8), and exogenous L-arginine administration causes the relaxation of blood vessels through the action of NO (9, 10). Although NO synthase, the enzyme that produces NO from L-arginine, is theoretically saturated with its natural substrate, exogenous L-arginine administration leads to increased NO production, and this phenomenon is known as the arginine paradox (9, 10). Therefore, many investigators have been interested in the effects of supplementation with L-arginine to produce increased beneficial effects of NO, including prevention of the progression of atherosclerosis (11, 12), prevention of pulmonary artery endothelial dysfunction (13, 14), enhancement of cellular immune response of T lymphocytes (4), and amelioration of hypertension (15,16). Other studies indicate that oral supplementation of L-arginine also corrects endothelial dysfunction of chronic heart failure (17), and it increases exercise capacity in patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension by increasing peak oxygen consumption and decreasing pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance thorough the action of NO (18).Because oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange takes place only in the capillary bed, the peripheral blood flow correlates with the rate of oxygen uptake...

The gas-phase basicities toward the trimethylsilyl cation, GB(Me3Si+), were determined for a series of acetophenones, benzaldehydes, pyridines, anilines, and N,N-dimethylanilines by measuring the equilibrium constants of trimethylsilyl cation transfer reactions. GB(Me3Si+) increases in the order aniline < benzaldehyde < acetophenone < N,N-dimethylaniline < pyridine, while GB(H+) increases as benzaldehyde < acetophenone < aniline < pyridine < N,N-dimethylaniline. The effects of ring substituents on the GB(Me3Si+) of the respective bases are, however, linearly correlated with the corresponding proton basicities with a slope of 0.8 to 1.0, showing family-dependent linear relationships. Furthermore, an analysis of the substituent effects on the GB(Me3Si+) of acetophenone and benzaldehyde showed that the ρ values are close to those for the proton basicities, though the resonance demand of Me3Si+ adduct ions is slightly reduced compared with that for the protonated ones. DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory reproduced such a trend in substituent effects as well as the family-dependent linear correlations between the H+ and Me3Si+ basicities. Both the experimental and theoretical results lead to the conclusion that the binding interactions of Me3Si+ with O and N atoms of organic bases have a pronounced covalent character to a similar degree as that of a proton.

Two studies were conducted to further assess its mutagenic and genotoxic potential. In a bacterial reverse mutation pre-incubation study, Salmonella typhimurium strains TA100, TA1535, TA98, and TA1537 and Escherichia coli WP2 uvrA were treated with aspartame at concentrations of up to 5000 μg/plate with or without metabolic activation and showed no mutagenic potential. Similarly, in vivo micronucleus testing of aspartame following gavage administration (500-2000 mg/kg body weight) to Crlj:CD1(ICR) strain SPF male mice showed no increase in the proportion of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in bone marrow cells collected and evaluated 24 or 48 h post administration. Overall, aspartame had no potential for mutagenic or genotoxic activity.