Impact of Citrulline and Arginine Supplementation on the Post-exercise Hypotension (PEH)

Post-exercise hypotension (PEH) is a established phenomenon as one of the non-pharmacological ways of reducing blood pressure, producing important impacts, particularly in hypertensive individuals. However, the factors involved in the magnitude and duration of this effect are relatively little studied. Thus, the bioavailability of vasodilatation mediators may maximize the duration and magnitude of PEH. In this sense, the objective of the present project will be to verify the impact of L-citrulline associated with L-arginine supplementation on the acute blood pressure response after an aerobic exercise session. Approximately 80 adults (40 normotensive and 40 hypertensive) will be selected. The sample will be submitted to measurements of body mass, height and resting blood pressure. After the minimum interval of 48 h, subjects will be randomly submitted to four experimental situations (exercise/L-citrulline, exercise/L-arginine, exercise/placebo, exercise/L-citrulline + L-arginine). The exercise sessions (40 min in treadmill at 60% of FCres) will be performed with a minimum interval of 48 h. After each session, the blood pressure of the sample will be recorded during 24 hours. For data analysis, blood pressure values will be plotted in average of the wakefulness and average of the sleep periods and average of the 24 hours. The comparisons will be made through the ANOVA (repeated measures), following the recommended assumptions. It is hoped that the results of this project will collaborate to the knowledge regarding non-pharmacological models aimed at the prevention and treatment of hypertension in normotensive and hypertensive patients.