Are Resistance Training-Induced BDNF in Hemodialysis Patients Associated with Depressive Symptoms, Quality of Life, Antioxidant Capacity, and Muscle Strength? An Insight for the Muscle–Brain–Renal Axis

Abstract

Background: Hemodialysis patients are suffering from depressive symptoms. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels are negatively associated with depressive symptoms and decrease during a single hemodialysis session. Resistance training (RT) might be an additional non-pharmacological tool to increase BDNF and promote mental health. Methods: Two randomized groups of hemodialysis patients: control (CTL, n = 76/F36; 66.33 ± 3.88 years) and RT (n = 81/F35; 67.27 ± 3.24 years). RT completed six months of training thrice a week under the supervision of strength and conditioning professional immediately before the dialysis session. Training loads were adjusted using the OMNI rating of perceived exertion. The total antioxidant capacity (TROLOX), glutathione (GSH), thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), and BDNF levels were analyzed in serum samples. Quality of life (assessed through Medical Outcomes—SF36), and Beck Depression Inventory was applied. Results: RT improved handgrip strength (21.17 ± 4.38 vs. 27.17 ± 4.34; p = 0.001) but not for CTL (20.09 ± 5.19 vs. 19.75 ± 5.54; p = 0.001). Post-training, RT group had higher values as compared to CTL related to TROLOX (RT,680.8 ± 225.2 vs. CTL,589.5 ± 195.9; p = 0.001) and GSH (RT, 9.33 ± 2.09 vs. CTL,5.00 ± 2.96; p = 0.001). RT group had lower values of TBARS as compared to CTL at post-training (RT, 11.06 ± 2.95 vs. CTL, 13.66 ± 2.62; p = 0.001). BDNF increased for RT (11.66 ± 5.20 vs. 19.60 ± 7.23; p = 0.001), but decreased for CTL (14.40 ± 4.99 vs. 10.84 ± 5.94; p = 0.001). Quality of life and mental health increased (p = 0.001) for RT, but did not change for CTL (p = 0.001). BDNF levels were associated with emotional dimensions of SF36, depressive symptoms, and handgrip (p = 0.001). Conclusions: RT was effective as a non-pharmacological tool to increased BDNF levels, quality of life, temper the redox balance and decrease depressive symptoms intensity in hemodialysis patients.

Recent Advances in the Nutritional Screening, Assessment, and Treatment of Japanese Patients on Hemodialysis

“…BDNF is involved in the regulation of synaptic function and in the maintenance of the neuromuscular system as well as in muscle development and metabolism [ 28 ]. Deus et al [ 29 ] showed that 6 months of resistance training just before HD sessions improved handgrip strength in line with increased BDNF. Serum BDNF levels were also positively associated with handgrip strength, role-emotional, and emotional well-being scales and negatively associated with the Beck depression inventory score [ 29 ].…”

“…Deus et al [ 29 ] showed that 6 months of resistance training just before HD sessions improved handgrip strength in line with increased BDNF. Serum BDNF levels were also positively associated with handgrip strength, role-emotional, and emotional well-being scales and negatively associated with the Beck depression inventory score [ 29 ]. Miyazaki et al [ 30 ] evaluated the relationship between BDNF and sarcopenia and frailty in regular patients on HD.…”

The effects of resistance exercise on cognitive function, amyloidogenesis, and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease

“…Two of these studies also showed increased levels of exercise-induced NGF (Jafarzadeh et al, 2021;Rahmati et al, 2022) Frontiers in Neuroscience 04 frontiersin.org the brain of resistance-trained animals (Pena et al, 2020). Human studies investigating the effects of RE in the elderly population have indicated that programs with 12 weeks to 6 months of exercise increase peripheral BDNF levels (Roh et al, 2020;Deus et al, 2021;Castaño et al, 2022). Furthermore, higher BDNF levels were observed after a single RE session (Arazi et al, 2021).…”

Effects of Resistance Exercise on Neuroprotective Factors in Middle and Late Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A total of 1066 studies were found (Supplementary Fig. 1), and 179 potentially includable studies were identified through the title and abstract, of which 30 RCTs [17,[23][24][25] met the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review; of these, 27 were included in the meta-analysis [17,23,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] (3 were excluded because no data were available).…”

“…The RCTs were conducted in the following continents: Oceania [39], Asia [17,32,33,42,44,48,50], Europe [24,31,41,43,45,46,52] and America [23,25,30,[34][35][36][37][38]40,47,49,[53][54][55]]. In addition, 22 studies were performed in a healthy population, described as individuals without specific health disorders or pathologies [23,24,[30][31][32][34][35][36][37][38]40,[42][43][44][45][46][47][49][50][51]53,…”