Autonomic control of skeletal muscle vasodilation during exercise

Despite extensive investigation, the control of blood flow during dynamic exercise is not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether β-adrenergic or muscarinic receptors are involved in the vasodilation in exercising skeletal muscle. Six mongrel dogs were instrumented with ultrasonic flow probes on both external iliac arteries and with a catheter in a branch of one femoral artery. The dogs exercised on a treadmill at 6 miles/h while drugs were injected intra-arterially into one hindlimb. Isoproterenol (0.2 μg) or acetylcholine (1 μg) elicited increases in iliac blood flow of 89.8 ± 14.4 and 95.6 ± 17.4%, respectively, without affecting systemic blood pressure or blood flow in the contralateral iliac artery. Intra-arterial propranolol (1 mg) or atropine (500 μg) had no effect on iliac blood flow, although they abolished the isoproterenol and acetylcholine-induced increases in iliac blood flow. These data indicate that exogenous activation of β-adrenergic or muscarinic receptors in the hindlimb vasculature increases blood flow to dynamically exercising muscle. More importantly, because neither propranolol nor atropine affected iliac blood flow, we conclude that β-adrenergic and muscarinic receptors are not involved in the control of blood flow to skeletal muscle during moderate steady-state dynamic exercise in dogs.