Table 1.

Comparison of in vitro endothelial cell and in vivo vascular adaptive responses to common stimuli found during non-pharmacological interventions

Stimulus	Interventions	In vitro	In vivo
Continuous elevation in flow	Exercise Water immersion Heat therapy	↑ eNOS ↓ Inflammatory cytokines ↑ Antioxidants ↑ Anti-inflammatory molecules	↑ Basal blood flow ↑ Maximal flow-mediated dilation ↑ Cerebrovascular responsiveness
Intermittent elevation in flow	Exercise Heat therapy	???	???
Oscillatory flow	Pneumatic compression	Prolonged exposure: ↑ Inflammatory cytokines ↑ Adhesion molecules ↑ Vasoconstriction factors	↑ Basal blood flow Improved functional outcomes
Loss of flow	Ischemic preconditioning	Prolonged exposure: ↑ Inflammatory cytokines ↑ Cellular dysfunction ↑ Cell death	↑ Endothelium-dependent blood flow ↑ Maximal flow-mediated dilation
Hypoxia	Ischemic preconditioning Hypoxia	↑ Inflammatory cytokines ↑ Oxidative stress ↑ Angiogenic factors ↑ eNOS	???
Increased temperature (Febrile/ ~ 39 °C)	Heat therapy	↓ IL-6 response to TNFa ↓ Future hyperthermic damage HSP protection against inflammation	↑ Basal blood flow ↑ Maximal flow-mediated dilation ↑ Cerebrovascular conductance

References for the stated responses can be found in Sects. “Ischemic preconditioning”, “Flow-independent adaptation in vivo” and 3.3

eNOS endothelial nitric oxide synthase, IL interleukin, VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor, heat shock protein 72 HSP72, tumor necrosis factor alpha TNFα, ↑ increase, ↓ decrease,??? response currently unknown