Effect of Age and Acute-Moderate Intensity Exercise on Biomarkers of Renal Health and Filtration

Abstract

Aerobic exercise elicits a multitude of physiological improvements in both healthy and diseased populations. However, acute changes in renal health and filtration with aerobic exercise remain difficult to quantify by traditional biomarkers to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). This study aimed to determine if an acute bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise transiently improves non-traditional biomarkers when compared to traditional biomarkers of renal health and filtration in individuals without cardiometabolic diseases. Thirty-nine participants (n = 18 men; n = 21 women; age 32.5 + 12.6 yr; height 171.1 + 11.4 cm; weight 78.7 + 15.6 kg; BMI 27.1 + 5.8) completed a single bout of moderate-intensity (50-60% HRR) aerobic exercise. Blood and urine samples were collected and compared before and post-exercise. Serum creatinine, urine epidermal growth factor (uEGF), uEGF/urine creatinine ratio (uEGFR), and cystatin C (CyC) were measured. In addition, eGFR-MDRD and the CKD-epidemiology equations were used to analyze renal clearance. Relative to pre-exercise measures: serum creatinine (p = 0.26), uEGF (p = 0.35), and uEGFR (p = 0.09) remained unchanged, whereas cystatin C (p = 0.00) significantly increased post-exercise. CyC eGFR was the only estimator of renal filtration to significantly change (p = 0.04). In conclusion, CyC is the only biomarker of renal health and filtration to significantly increase after aerobic exercise. Further investigation focused on sampling time and exercise-intensity is needed to solidify the current understanding of renal health and filtration.

Keywords: aerobic exercise; cardiometabolic diseases; estimated glomerular filtration rate; renal health and filtration; urine epidermal growth factor.

Figure 1

Age group comparison of eGFR (A–D). Abbreviations: Cystatin C (CyC), chronic kidney disease–epidemiology (CKD_EPI), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), Female (F), Male (M), Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), serum creatinine (SCr), urine creatinine (uCR), and urine epidermal growth factor (uEGF). 20s—21 individuals (8 M/13 F), 30s—3 individuals (3 M), 40s—11 individuals (5 M/6 F), and 50s—4 individuals (2 M/2 F). All data are presented as mean + SD. There was no significant differences pre—to post-exercise.