Increase in serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels during altitude training

Abstract

The present study was performed to evaluate the effects of physical exercise at altitudes on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. Eight subjects underwent intensive swimming training for 21 days at 1886 m. After altitude training commenced, red blood cell (RBC) counts and erythropoietin levels increased, but both haemoglobin and haematocrit levels did not change significantly. The serum level of VEGF, measured by means of a highly sensitive chemiluminescence (ELISA), showed a transient decrease 10 days after start of the altitude training, thereafter increasing significantly to reach a peak level 19 days later, rising from 23.0 +/- 5.3 to 46.0 +/- 14.6 pg mL-1 (P < 0.05 vs. before). On return to low altitude in Japan, the level of VEGF decreased, and 1 month later had returned to initial levels. Endurance training at altitudes increases serum VEGF levels; this could be an adaptive reaction to hypoxic conditions. This result suggests that VEGF may provide a new physiological parameter for hypoxic stress imposed by high altitude training.

Mechanism of Myocardial Microvessel Formation in Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease

“…7 Asano et al reported increased serum VEGF levels in athletes who trained at high altitudes and that their serum VEGF levels returned to normal 1 month after returning to sea level. 19 However, the mechanism that leads to the overexpression of myocardial microvessels in patients with C-CHD is unknown, nor is the relationship between VEGF and microvessel formation in the myocardium completely understood.…”

Aerobic Exercise Does Not Predict Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor And Cortisol Alterations in Depressed Patients

“…Human studies have shown that the availability of BDNF deficiency is associated with vulnerability to depression [153]. Exercise training therefore compensates the atrophic changes of the hippocampus for its impact on the expression of neurotrophic growth factors, which have an antidepressant action similar to that hypothesized for the treatment of antidepressant drugs [127,130,[154][155][156][157]. Thus, there is support for the neurotrophic hypothesis of depression as an alternative to any other hypothesis.…”

“…There is evidence that the practice of exercise causes physiological changes in monoamine levels in rats [122], as well as in healthy men and women [123], alters the levels of cortisol in rats and healthy individuals [123][124][125][126] and leads to adaptations in limbic structures that have been implicated in depression, in addition to increased expression of neurotrophic factors in hippocampus of rats and healthy subjects [121,[125][126][127][128][129][130][131]. However, no evidence was obtained in depressed patients.…”

Physical activity at moderate and high altitudes. Cardiovascular and respiratory morbidit

“…The physiological mechanisms are the following: 1) increase in the pulmonary ventilation 39 ; 2) reduction in the HR previously increased in the acute response 22,39 ; 3) decrease in the plasmatic volume 39,40 ; 4) reduction of the accumulation of lactate in the blood during submaximal exercise in relation to the more elevated levels of acute response 39 ; 5) improvement of the cardiorespiratory capacity for exercise, also related to the initial exposure to the hypobaric hypoxia 23,41 ; 6) increase in the secretion of renal erythropoietin, in the hemoglobin mass and in the hematocrit 34,36,37,42 .…”

“…Erythropoietin -A few hours after exposure to hypobaric hypoxia, the secretion of renal erythropoietin increases [34][35][36][37] . As it stimulates the synthesis of red blood cells, in approximately one week it significantly increases the concentration of hemoglobin and, therefore, the capacity of transporting O 2 in the blood 38 .…”