Effect of mountain ultra-marathon running on plasma angiopoietin-like protein 4 and lipid profile in healthy trained men

Abstract

Purpose: Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) regulates lipid metabolism by inhibiting lipoprotein lipase activity and stimulating lipolysis in adipose tissue. The aim of this study was to find out whether the mountain ultra-marathon running influences plasma ANGPTL4 and whether it is related to plasma lipid changes.

Methods: Ten healthy men (age 31 ± 1.1 years) completed a 100-km ultra-marathon running. Plasma ANGPTL4, free fatty acids (FFA), triacylglycerols (TG), glycerol (Gly), total cholesterol (TC), low (LDL-C) and high (HDL-C) density lipoprotein-cholesterol were determined before, immediately after the run and after 90 min of recovery.

Results: Plasma ANGPTL4 increased during exercise from 68.0 ± 16.5 to 101.2 ± 18.1 ng/ml (p < 0.001). This was accompanied by significant increases in plasma FFA, Gly, HDL-C and decreases in plasma TG concentrations (p < 0.01). After 90 min of recovery, plasma ANGPTL4 and TG did not differ significantly from the exercise values, while plasma FFA, Gly, TC and HDL-C were significantly lower than immediately after the run. TC/HDL-C and TG/HDL-C molar ratios were significantly reduced. The exercise-induced changes in plasma ANGPTL4 correlated positively with those of FFA (r = 0.73; p < 0.02), and HDL-C (r = 0.69; p < 0.05). Positive correlation was found also between plasma ANGPTL4 and FFA concentrations after 90 min of recovery (r = 0.77; p < 0.01).

Conclusions: The present data suggest that increase in plasma FFA during mountain ultra-marathon run may be involved in plasma ANGPTL4 release and that increase in ANGPTL4 secretion may be a compensatory mechanism against fatty acid-induced oxidative stress. Increase in plasma HDL-C observed immediately after the run may be due to the protective effect of ANGPTL4 on HDL.

Keywords: ANGPTL4; Cholesterol; Free fatty acids; Triacylglycerols; Ultra-marathon.

Fig. 1

The plasma concentrations of angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4), free fatty acids (FFA), triacylglycerols (TG) and glycerol (Gly) before (Baseline), immediately after ultra-marathon run (Run) and at 90 min of recovery (Recovery). The values are mean ± SEM (n = 10). Asterisks denote significant differences from the resting values: **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Crosses denote significant differences from the exercise values: ⁺⁺p < 0.01

Fig. 2

The plasma concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) before (Baseline), immediately after ultra-marathon run (Run) and at 90 min of recovery (Recovery). The values are mean ± SEM (n = 10). Asterisks denote significant differences from the resting values: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Crosses denote significant differences from the exercise values: ⁺p < 0.05.

Fig. 3

The relationships between exercise-induced changes in plasma angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) and those of plasma free fatty acids (FFA) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C)

Fig. 4

The relationships between the resting values of plasma triacylglycerols (TG), free fatty acids (FFA) and glycerol (Gly) concentrations before the run (open circle) and at 90 min of recovery (closed circle)