Dependency of arterial compliance on circulating neuroendocrine and metabolic factors in normal subjects.

Reduced arterial compliance is now recognized as a feature of hypertension. Similarly, metabolic factors such as insulin, catecholamines and lipids are also associated with hypertension. This study explores the possibility that these neuroendocrine and metabolic factors may separately influence arterial compliance. Proximal compliance (aorta and large arteries) and distal compliance (small arteries and arterioles) were measured in 57 volunteers (30 hypertensive and 27 normotensive subjects, mean age 45 years). Compliance was quantified by analysis of arterial pulse wave contours obtained intraarterially together with hemodynamic estimates. Proximal compliance correlated with plasma insulin (r = -0.49; p less than 0.001), norepinephrine (r = -0.50; p less than 0.002), triglycerides (r = -0.39; p less than 0.01), total cholesterol (r = -0.33; p = 0.02) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) (r = 0.37; p less than 0.02). Similarly, distal compliance correlated with insulin (r = -0.37; p less than 0.02), triglycerides (r = -0.39; p less than 0.01), total cholesterol (r = -0.38; p less than 0.01) and HDL (r = 0.51, p less than 0.002).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)