Intravascular hemolysis is one of the most emphasized mechanisms for destruction of erythrocytes during and after physical activity. Exercise-induced oxidative stress has been proposed among the different factors for explaining exercise-induced hemolysis. The validity of oxidative stress following exhaustive cycling exercise on erythrocyte damage was investigated in sedentary and trained subjects before and after antioxidant vitamin treatment (A, C, and E) for 2 mo. Exercise induced a significant increase in thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance and protein carbonyl content levels in sedentary subjects and resulted in an increase of osmotic fragility and decrease in deformability of erythrocytes, accompanied by signs for intravascular hemolysis (increase in plasma hemoglobin concentration and decrease in haptoglobulin levels). Administration of antioxidant vitamins for 2 mo prevented exercise-induced oxidative stress (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance, protein carbonyl content) and deleterious effects of exhaustive exercise on erythrocytes in sedentary subjects. Trained subjects' erythrocyte responses to exercise were different from those of sedentary subjects before antioxidant vitamin treatment. Osmotic fragility and deformability of erythrocytes, plasma hemoglobin concentration, and haptoglobulin levels were not changed after exercise, although the increased oxidative stress was observed in trained subjects. After antioxidant vitamin treatment, functional and structural parameters of erythrocytes were not altered in the trained group, but exercise-induced oxidative stress was prevented. Increased percentage of young erythrocyte populations was determined in trained subjects by density separation of erythrocytes. These findings suggest that the exercise-induced oxidative stress may contribute to exercise-induced hemolysis in sedentary humans.

Exercise-induced proteinuria is a common consequence of physical activity and is caused predominantly by alterations in renal hemodynamics. Although it has been shown that exercise-induced oxidative stress can also contribute to the occurrence of postexercise proteinuria, the sources of reactive oxygen species that promote it are unknown. We investigated the enzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase and xanthine oxidase (XO) as possible sources of oxidative stress in postexercise proteinuria. First, we evaluated the effect of blocking the NADPH oxidase enzyme on postexercise proteinuria. We found a significant increase in urinary protein level, kidney thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and protein carbonyl content after exhaustive exercise, and NADPH oxidase activity was induced by exercise. Rats that were treated with an NADPH oxidase inhibitor for 4 days before exhaustive exercise showed no increase in kidney TBARS or protein carbonyl derivative level and no proteinuria or NADPH oxidase activation. In the next set of experiments, we investigated the effect of XO blockage on postexercise proteinuria. Oxypurinol, an XO inhibitor was administered to rats for 3 days before exercise. Although XO inhibition significantly decreased kidney TBARS levels and protein carbonyl content in exercised rats, the inhibition did not prevent exercise-induced proteinuria. However, plasma and kidney XO activity was not induced by exercise, but rather it was suppressed under oxypurinol treatment. These results suggest that increased NADPH oxidase activity induced by exhaustive exercise is an important source of elevated oxidative, stress during exercise, which contributes to the occurrence of postexercise proteinuria.