The limitation of plasma volume correction for the serum protein concentration analysis in an acute exercise

Abstract

An acute exercise concomitant with transient plasma shifts caused by the modified colloid osmotic pressure gradient contributes to the plasma volume correction(PVC) demands. However, relations between physiological effects of an exercise and the physical characteristics of permeating molecules or endothelial barriers raise doubts about quantitative benefits of PVC. The present study was conducted to determine the limitation of widely applied PVC on measuring concentration of serum protein in an acute exercise. Nine college men(age: 25.4±0.5, BMI: 22.6±1.9) were assigned to non‐exercise group(NG) on the first day and to exercise group(EG)(45 min., 65‐75 %HRmax, running) on the next day. Blood samples were drawn for the serum protein electrophoresis analysis(t‐test, pearson correlation) twice(pre‐event, post‐event). Albumin(p<.05), α1(p<.01), α2(p<.01), β(p<.05), and λ(p<.05) fraction concentration increased after the exercise. Negative correlations between the percentage of change in albumin and that of other fractions concentration in NG(α1(r=‐.755, p<.05), α2(r=‐.947, p<.01), β(r=‐.954, p<.01), λ(r=‐.928, p<.01)) decreased by wide gaps in EG(α1(r=.377), α2(r=‐.210), β(r=‐.349), γ(r=‐.289)). These correlations moved from the positive direction to the negative according to the increasing size of serum proteins in both groups except for γfraction. The results suggest that not only relatively small‐sized albumin but large‐sized serum proteins permeate endothelial barriers with conformational strain in proportion to the size. Therefore, the application of current PVC on a study measuring serum protein concentration in an acute exercise may underestimate the accurate concentration in situ.