Table 2. Effect of Oral BH4 Treatment on Magnetic Resonance Imaging Indexes of Arterial Stiffness.
| Placebo |
BH4 400 mg/d |
BH4 700 mg/d |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | After Treatment | Δ | Baseline | After Treatment | Δ | Baseline | After Treatment | Δ | P | |
| Distensibility, 10−3 mm Hg−1 | ||||||||||
| Ascending aorta | 1.66 (0.31) | 1.54 (0.25) | −0.23 (0.23) | 1.79 (0.22) | 2.09 (0.45) | 0.28 (0.26) | 2.04 (0.37) | 2.33 (0.38) | 0.05 (0.30) | 0.40 |
| Proximal descending aorta | 2.09 (0.33) | 2.17 (0.36) | 0.09 (0.12) | 2.47 (0.20) | 2.62 (0.34) | 0.11 (0.23) | 2.73 (0.39) | 3.01 (0.37) | 0.28 (0.29) | 0.77 |
| Abdominal aorta | 2.69 (0.42) | 2.87 (0.42) | 0.18 (0.22) | 3.00 (0.41) | 3.28 (0.43) | 0.32 (0.33) | 3.32 (0.47) | 3.18 (0.46) | −0.14 (0.36) | 0.57 |
| Right carotid artery | 3.01 (0.25) | 2.71 (0.24) | −0.39 (0.24) | 3.20 (0.36) | 4.48 (0.69) | 1.12 (0.59) | 4.05 (0.57) | 3.83 (0.37) | −0.54 (0.71) | 0.11 |
| Left carotid artery | 3.59 (0.31) | 3.26 (0.40) | −0.53 (0.33) | 3.62 (0.33) | 4.39 (0.86) | 0.68 (0.83) | 3.53 (0.42) | 3.84 (0.54) | −0.30 (0.47) | 0.27 |
| Aortic PWV, m/s | 6.57 (0.37) | 6.41 (0.37) | −0.01 (0.46) | 6.33 (0.40) | 7.19 (1.17) | 0.73 (1.21) | 7.23 (0.72) | 6.83 (0.47) | −0.40 (0.59) | 0.58 |
BH4 indicates tetrahydrobiopterin; PWV, pulse wave velocity. Aortic and carotid distensibility and aortic PWV were measured by magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and after treatment with oral BH4 or placebo. Values are expressed as mean (SEM). P values represent 2-way ANOVA for repeated measures with time– by–treatment group interaction.