Atrial natriuretic peptide in relation to physical exercise.

The effect of physical exercise on atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was studied in 10 healthy young volunteers. The subjects were exercised on a bicycle ergometry until exhaustion. Blood samples were drawn at rest, at maximal load and in the following resting period. ANP concentrations were measured by radio-immunoassay. The level of ANP rose from 6.7 +/- 0.5 at rest to 33.2 +/- 7.0 pmol/l (mean +/- SEM) (p less than 0.05) at maximal load and returned to normal after 45 min. It was not possible to demonstrate a correlation between a change in ANP concentration and changes in pulse rate, blood pressure, maximal physical load, volume of urine, the amount of urine sodium, urine potassium or urine creatinine during the exercise load.