Prevention of exercise-induced endothelemia by isradipine in men with angina pectoris

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether treatment with isradipine would prevent an exercise-induced increase in the concentration of anuclear carcasses of endothelial cells in the blood of men with angina pectoris. Endothelial cells were prepared for microscopic counting by a method involving differential centrifugation of venous blood. The endothelial cell count of 20 men increased from 0.78 +/- (SD) 0.41 per counting chamber approximately 2 h before exercise to 1.28 +/- 0.54 three minutes after moderate angina was induced by treadmill exercise (p = 0.003). After treatment with isradipine, the endothelial cell count decreased with or without treadmill exercise. These results suggest that exercise caused an increase in the endothelial cell count of men with coronary artery disease and that isradipine caused an acute decrease and prevented the exercise-induced increase in the endothelial cell count.