Effects of long-term training on the progression of chronic renal failure in rats

To evaluate the effects of long-term exercise on the progression of chronic renal failure (CRF), adult Munich-Wistar rats with 5/6 renal mass ablation were submitted to treadmill exercise for 30 min 5 times/wk for 60 d. Whole kidney function and glomerular hemodynamics, proteinuria, and glomerular sclerosis were evaluated in 4 groups: Control, Sham trained (Sham + Ex), rats submitted to 5/6 nephrectomy (CRF) and maintained sedentary, and rats with 5/6 nephrectomy and trained (CRF + Ex). The groups with chronic renal failure (sedentary and trained) presented a reduction in total glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and in renal plasma flow (RPF), accompanied by an increase in single nephron GFR (SNGFR) and glomerular plasma flow (QA). However, the CRF + EX group did not show the glomerular hypertension observed in the CRF group. Despite the normalization of glomerular hypertension, proteinuria and sclerosis index were not different from the CRF sedentary group. Physical training provoked a vasodilatation of efferent arterioles, which induced the normalization of glomerular hypertension. These results suggest that the reduction alone of glomerular hypertension induced by exercise does not prevent the progression of renal disease, indicating the participation of other associated factors in this experimental model.