Intestinal fatty acid-binding protein and gut permeability responses to exercise

• Published in: European journal of applied physiology Vol. 117; no. 5; pp. 931 - 941
• Main Authors: March, Daniel S., Marchbank, Tania, Playford, Raymond J., Jones, Arwel W., Thatcher, Rhys, Davison, Glen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cattle; Colostrum; Exercise; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins - blood; Fatty acids; Human Physiology; Humans; Intestinal Absorption; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Ischemia; Lactulose - urine; Male; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Original; Original Article; Permeability; Physiology; Plasma; Proteins; Rhamnose - urine; Sports Medicine; United Kingdom > UK; Bovine colostrum; Cellular injury; Urinary; Strenuous exercise; Core temperature; Cell damage; Intestinal permeability; Urinary L/R
• ISSN: 1439-6319; 1439-6327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00421-017-3582-4

Purpose Intestinal cell damage due to physiological stressors (e.g. heat, oxidative, hypoperfusion/ischaemic) may contribute to increased intestinal permeability. The aim of this study was to assess changes in plasma intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) in response to exercise (with bovine colostrum supplementation, Col, positive control) and compare this to intestinal barrier integrity/permeability (5 h urinary lactulose/rhamnose ratio, L/R ). Methods In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, 18 males completed two experimental arms (14 days of 20 g/day supplementation with Col or placebo, Plac). For each arm participants performed two baseline (resting) intestinal permeability assessments ( L/R ) pre-supplementation and one post-exercise following supplementation. Blood samples were collected pre- and post-exercise to determine I-FABP concentration. Results Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed an arm × time interaction for L/R and I-FABP ( P  < 0.001). Post hoc analyses showed urinary L/R increased post-exercise in Plac (273% of pre, P  < 0.001) and Col (148% of pre, P  < 0.001) with post-exercise values significantly lower with Col ( P  < 0.001). Plasma I-FABP increased post-exercise in Plac (191% of pre-exercise, P  = 0.002) but not in the Col arm (107%, P  = 0.862) with post-exercise values significantly lower with Col ( P  = 0.013). Correlations between the increase in I-FABP and L/R were evident for visit one ( P  = 0.044) but not visit two ( P  = 0.200) although overall plots/patterns do appear similar for each. Conclusion These findings suggest that exercise-induced intestinal cellular damage/injury is partly implicated in changes in permeability but other factors must also contribute.