Effect of Swimming Exercise on the Progress of Renal Dysfunction in Rat with Focal Glomerulosclerosis

Abstract

The effect of exercise on the progression of experimental renal disease was studied in adriamycin (ADR)-treated rats, a model of sclerosing glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome. Two hours of daily swimming exercise was carried out for 20 weeks in ADR-treated male Lewis rats fed with either an ad libitum intake of regular chow (group 1) or a restricted amount of food (group 3), which was equal to the amount of food freely ingested by ADR-treated rats not undergoing swimming exercise (group 2). Group 3 resulted in a significantly lower serum creatinine, higher inulin clearance and lower glomerular sclerosis index compared to group 2. The progress of renal dysfunction did not differ significantly between group 1 and group 2. Hyperlipidemia, especially, hypertriglyceridemia was significantly lower in the exercise groups than in the sedentary group. Among all the rats, inulin clearance was inversely correlated with either cholesterol (r = 0.560, p < 0.01) or triglyceride (r = 0.423, p < 0.05) and the glomerular sclerosis index correlated positively with cholesterol (r = 0.599, p < 0.005). Systolic blood pressure was 10 mm Hg lower in group 3 than in group 2 and the difference was significant. It is concluded that swimming exercise with a relative restriction of food intake can improve hyperlipidemia and prevent progressive renal dysfunction in ADR-induced nephritic rats.

Exercise Training and the Progression of Chronic Renal Failure

“…This was associated with a reduc tion in proteinuria and a fall in LDL cholesterol and tri glyceride in plasma, in support of the hypothesis of an effect of plasma lipids on the progression of renal disease [14][15][16], Blood pressure apparently was not influenced by exercise training in the rats. The rat models of human renal disease were puromycin-induced nephrosis [2] or 5/ 6 nephrectomy [1], changes that might be more respon sive to the effect of exercise than e.g. adult polycystic dis ease and hypertensive nephrosclerosis which was the diag nosis in more than half of the patients in the present study.…”

“…Exercise in the rats was much heavier than in the patients and included 2 h of daily swimming [1,2]. This was associated with a reduc tion in proteinuria and a fall in LDL cholesterol and tri glyceride in plasma, in support of the hypothesis of an effect of plasma lipids on the progression of renal disease [14][15][16], Blood pressure apparently was not influenced by exercise training in the rats.…”

“…Two experimental studies in rats have demonstrated that a program of regular physical exercise mitigates the progression of chronic renal failure (CRF) [1,2], Con trolled physical exercise programs can improve the well being and exercise capacity of patients with CRF, both before [3] and after the start of dialysis [4], The effect of exercise on the course of progression of CRF in man has not been studied. It has traditionally been inferred that physical exercise might be harmful to kidneys with an impaired function, as heavy bouts of exercise regularly causes a transient fall in renal blood flow [5], transient proteinuria [6] and in the urinary sediment a picture of 'athlete pscudonephritis' with erythrocytes and granular casts [7], These transient effects have not been reported to cause any impairment of renal function.…”

Factors influencing the development of end-stage renal disease

“…In an animal study, swimming was shown to alleviate hyperlipidemia and prevent progressive renal dysfunction in adriamycin-induced nephritic rats. 64 Exercise is also known to improve insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, and to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 DM and hypertension. 65 Additional factors Dialysis patients include individuals who have survived medical events such as malignancies, collagen disease, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, infections, 66 and drug abuse.…”

Combination of Chronic Exercise and Antihypertensive Therapy Enhances Renoprotective Effects in Rats With Renal Ablation

“…On the other hand, there have been few reports regarding the influence of EX on the progression of renal disease, and the results have been controversial. [21][22][23][24][25] Osato et al reported that a decrease in Scr, an increase in glomerular filtration rate, and an alleviation of glomerulosclerosis resulted from 2 h/day swimming for 20 weeks in Lewis rats. 23 Heifets et al reported an increase in glomerular filtration rate, a decrease in UP, and an alleviation of glomerulosclerosis compared with the values in sedentary rats brought about by swimming for 2 h/day for 2 months in rats with 3/4-NX.…”