Changes in renal cortical sialic acids and colloidal iron staining associated with exercise

The purpose of this study was to determine if exercise was associated with alterations in renal cortical sialic acid content or glomerular capillary anionic character. These factors have been shown to be important, insofar as they contribute to an electrostatic barrier which prevents the filtration of negatively charged macromolecules. In unilaterally nephrectomized dogs (n=7), exercised kidneys tended to have increased amounts of sialic acids and a decrease in glomerular anionic character, as evaluated by the intensity of colloidal iron staining, however, nephrectomy alone also caused similar changes. Additional experiments were conducted using rat litter mates assigned to control or treadmill-exercise groups. Exercised animals were run for 60-80 min. Renal cortical sialic acids were 2.74 +/- 0.07 mumol/g for controls (n=12) and 3.03 + 0.09 mumol/g for the exercised animals (n=10) (P less than 0.05). Colloidal iron staining, rated on a 0-3 scale (0=no uptake, 3=maximum staining) was 2.5 +/- 0.1 and 1.3 +/- 0.3 for the controls and exercised animals, respectively (P less than 0.05). Colloidal iron staining remained below control levels for 24 h post-exercise. These data suggest that exercise increases glomerular sialic acid content and decreases colloidal iron staining. This latter effect may decrease the glomerular capillary electrostatic barrier and thereby may be an important factor in causing exercise proteinuria.