ABC | Volume 113, Nº2, August 2019

Original Article Casonatto et al. Citrulline and post-exercise hypotension Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 113(2):218-228 Figure 2 – Individual changes – Systolic blood pressure. Dashed line: MDC (minimal detectable change). 36 20 4 31 3 39 33 28 38 35 29 27 37 26 17 34 22 11 8 32 19 18 10 7 9 23 24 15 16 14 13 25 40 6 1 2 12 30 21 5 36 20 4 31 3 39 33 28 35 38 30 29 12 17 1 19 34 2 22 32 8 18 7 10 23 9 15 24 16 25 6 13 40 14 27 11 37 26 21 5 36 5 39 21 3 4 33 31 35 38 30 29 12 17 1 34 2 19 22 32 8 18 7 10 23 9 15 24 16 25 6 13 40 14 27 11 37 26 28 20 36 5 39 4 33 3 20 31 35 37 26 38 12 27 1 34 11 2 22 19 7 8 32 18 10 23 15 9 24 16 25 40 6 13 14 17 30 29 28 21 Control-Placebo Control-Citrulline Exercise-Placebo Exercise-Citrulline Systolic Blood Pressure – Individual Variation –40 –20 0 20 60min –40 –60 –20 0 20 Asleep –40 –60 –20 0 20 24hours –40 –60 –80 –20 0 20 Awake deficiency in peripheral vasodilation modulators, such as a compensation mechanism so autonomous nervous system can work to reduce cardiac output. 2,14 For this reason, we expect that citrulline oral supplementation could contribute to improving the peripheral vasodilation mechanisms in hypertensive individuals, resulting in a greater magnitude and/or duration of PEH. Unfortunately, in the present study we did not evaluate important NO biomarkers such as nitrite and nitrate. Independent of the mechanisms that are involved in this response, the present study demonstrated that the exercise plus citrulline (intermediate of NO metabolism) caused a greater hypotensive effect and this effect can last up to 24 hours. This finding suggests that NO might be involved in this response 36 and it might be over stimulated by exercise plus citrulline compared to one of them in isolation. Concerning the CP and CC results, we expected that acute citrulline supplementation, independent of exercise, could contribute to improving hypotension effect, resulting in a lower prevalence of non-responders in comparison to CP. Contradicting our hypothesis, the results indicate that acute 224