the effect of endurance training along with l-arginine supplementation on the levels of mmp-2 and mmp-9 in postmenopausal hypertensive women

Introduction: matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) including mmp2 and mmp9 play an important role in hypertension pathogenesis. the aim of present study was to identify the effect of endurance training along with l-arginine supplementation on the levels of mmp-2 and mmp-9 in postmenopausal hypertensive women. materials and methods: the 40 postmenopausal hypertensive women’s (average age of 55.26 ± 2.56 years and bmi 28.61±1.18 kg/m²) randomly divided in four groups including placebo, l-arginine, endurance training and endurance training + l-arginine groups. exercise training program conducted for 12 weeks with 60-75 percent of maximum heart rate. l-arginine consumption considered 6 g daily. blood sampling performed in pre and posttest (48 hours after last training session or l-arginine consumption) stages and mmp2 and mmp9 were measured by elisa method. results: present study findings indicated that l-arginine, training and training + l-arginine result in significant decrease of mmp-2, mmp-9 and systolic blood pressure (p<0.05). moreover, the greatest reduction in mmp-2 and mmp-9 levels and systolic blood pressure were observed in training + l-arginine group. conclusion: it seems that, l-arginine supplementation increases the antihypertensive effect of endurance training that partly related to decrease in mmp-2 and mmp-9 levels.