Microcirculatory function in postmenopausal women: Role of aging, hormonal exposure and metabolic syndrome

Impact of the metabolic syndrome on subcutaneous microcirculation in obese patients

“…The limitations refer to the fact that the micromyographic approach does not allow to define whether vessels taken from bioptic samples are comparable in different groups of participants [35] and the alterations seen in the small arteries of the adipose visceral district can be safely extrapolated to other vascular beds. Evidence, however, has been provided that the use of the M/L ratio may overcome the first limitation [35] and the vascular abnormalities seen in our patients in the small resistance arteries have been reported also in other vascular districts such as aorta, carotid, brachial arteries as well as in the skin microcirculation [1,2,[5][6][7][8]14,15]. A further limitation refers to the small sample size of the different population of participants we studied.…”

“…These abnormalities might also involve small resistance arteries as well, because some of the components of the metabolic syndrome, such as hypertension and obesity, are associated with microvascular alterations [9][10][11][12][13]. No study, however, has directly investigated the functional and structural patterns of subcutaneous small resistance arteries in the metabolic syndrome, the only information available being obtained via skin nailfold videocapillaroscopy, that is an approach that does not allow to quantify media-tolumen (M/L) ratio and provide other direct indices of the structural vascular changes occurring in the microcirculation [14,15]. In addition, no information is available on whether in the metabolic syndrome the hypothesized structural alterations of the small arteries are coupled with an endothelial dysfunction, as shown for the large arterial vessels [2,[16][17][18].…”

In elderly women moderate hypercholesterolemia is associated to endothelial and microcirculatory impairments

“…Cholesterol reduction impact on mortality is modulated by age: for each 18 mg/dl total cholesterol reduction, ischemic heart disease mortality decreased 56% in patients between 40 and 49 years, but only 18% in those between 70 and 79 years (Steg and Tissot, 2010). Aging is a non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factor accompanied by endothelial changes when compared to young controls (Clapauch et al, 2009) and the specific approach to dyslipidemia management in elderly persons has rarely been consolidated (Aronow et al, 2011).…”

Early postmenopausal women with cardiovascular risk factors improve microvascular dysfunction after acute estradiol administration

“…As in our previous studies, 3,12 we have used functional nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), a simple, quick, noninvasive, low-cost technique derived from capillaroscopy, created in 1977 13 and originally used in rheumatological and dermatological studies. NVC is available in most centers, and its use has expanded to other situations, 14 being especially suitable for the study of endothelial function because capillaries, microvessels with only endothelial layer, can be directly visualized through a microscope, and red blood cell velocity (RBCV), as the cells pass through them, could be used to quantify blood flow and tissue perfusion.…”