Inorganic nitrate and nitrite supplementation improves endothelial function, decreases blood pressure, increases ejection fraction, and decreases overall weight. It also attenuates the hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) in healthy individuals. The HVR is increased in obese humans when compared to healthy individuals. Therefore, we hypothesize that HVR increases in a rat model of obesity and this increase is blunted by nitrite supplementation.
In the first experiment, nitrite supplementation significantly reduced HVR. In the second experiment, contrary to data in humans, the HVR was reduced in obese rats compared to control. Nitrite did not alter this obesity-induced decrease in HVR. Nitrite did cause a significant increase in rate of oxygen consumption (V̇O2) when compared to both HFD rats and control rats. Future studies are needed to determine the mechanisms behind the impact of these interventions on HVR.