Endostatin and physical exercise in young female and male athletes and controls

It was suggested that endostatin, an angiogenic mediator, is influenced by physical exercise. We performed bicycle stress testing in 88 healthy non-smoking female and male individuals, divided into athlete and non-athlete groups. Serum endostatin and norepinephrine were measured at rest, after reaching maximum workload and after 20 min of recovery. At baseline, both female and male controls showed significant lower levels compared to female and male athletes (89.39±15.32 resp. 93.39±15.00 ng/ml; p<0.001 vs. 128.81±20.84 resp. 147.52±27.72; p<0.001). An increase in endostatin levels in both groups and sexes was associated with bicycle stress testing (p for all groups<0.001). The extent of endostatin increase was comparable in both groups and sexes and varied between 23-27%. Significance was obscured when the performance was entered as covariate. Acutely induced physical strain leads to an increase in endostatin levels in athletes and controls of both sexes, the extent of increase depending on the extent of workload. An athletic lifestyle with >3 h of endurance training/week seems to lead to higher long-term endostatin levels which might play a role in the connection between sports and cardiovascular prevention.