Effects of endurance exercise on the urinary proteome analyzed by 2-D PAGE and Orbitrap MS.

PURPOSE

Exercise-induced proteinuria is a well-known phenomenon and the influence of parameters such as intensity and duration was studied extensively. Usually, total protein or albumin was measured for diagnosis of a proteinuria, and the present study was performed to search for qualitative differences in the urinary proteome before and after endurance exercise.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Urine samples were concentrated and proteins separated by means of 2-D PAGE. Proteins differing in the investigated groups were identified by nano-UPLC-Orbitrap MS after trypsin digestion.

RESULTS

The study yielded several proteins such as hemopexin, albumin, orosomucoid 1, transferrin or carbonic anhydrase 1 that were elevated after a marathon run in comparison to a control group. These are linked to physiological changes resulting from endurance exercise such as destruction of erythrocytes or increased fat metabolism. On the contrary, 2-D PAGE profiles of athletes at rest did not differ from those of control samples.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The study is a starting point to build up individual 2-D PAGE protein maps of athletes. Further studies will investigate intra-individual differences and further exercise parameters, which potentially lead to a physiological monitoring system for athletes in training and competition and may also complement the blood passport in doping control.