Dietary nitrate supplementation opposes the elevated diaphragm blood flow in chronic heart failure during submaximal exercise

Chronic heart failure (CHF) results in a greater cost of breathing and necessitates an elevated diaphragm blood flow (BF). Dietary nitrate (NO3‾) supplementation lowers the cost of exercise. We hypothesized that dietary NO3‾ supplementation would attenuate the CHF-induced greater cost of breathing and thus the heightened diaphragm BF during exercise. CHF rats received either 5 days of NO3‾-rich beetroot (BR) juice (CHF + BR, n = 10) or a placebo (CHF, n = 10). Respiratory muscle BFs (radiolabeled microspheres) were measured at rest and during submaximal exercise (20 m/min, 5% grade). Infarcted left ventricular area and normalized lung weight were not significantly different between groups. During submaximal exercise, diaphragm BF was markedly lower for CHF + BR than CHF (CHF + BR: 195 ± 28; CHF: 309 ± 71 mL/min/100 g, p = 0.04). The change in diaphragm BF from rest to exercise was less (p = 0.047) for CHF + BR than CHF. These findings demonstrate that dietary NO3‾ supplementation reduces the elevated diaphragm BF during exercise in CHF rats thus providing additional support for this therapeutic intervention in CHF.