Galectin-3 increase in endurance athletes

Background Galectin-3 is a new and promising biomarker for heart failure and myocardial fibrosis. Although endurance exercise is a crucial element in cardiovascular disease prevention, the relationship between exercise and plasma levels of galectin-3 is still unknown. To date, the relationship between regular exercise and myocardial fibrosis is not fully understood. This study investigates the relationship between endurance exercise and plasma levels of galectin-3.

Methods Twenty-one male, healthy non-elite marathon runners were examined before and within 1 hour after a strenuous run of 30km after 4-day training abstinence. Examination included blood samples for galectin-3, echocardiography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). In addition, to distinguish between cardiac or skeletal muscular origin of galectin-3, 27 C57Bl/6J mice performing voluntary wheel running and 25 sedentary mice were analysed.

Results Plasma galectin-3 in endurance athletes increased from baseline to post exercise (12.83.4ng/ml to 19.9 +/- 3.9ng/ml, p

Conclusions Plasma galectin-3 is substantially elevated in endurance athletes after running but does not correlate with cardiac function, other biomarkers, or myocardial fibrosis. In mice, we demonstrate that galectin-3 increase during endurance exercise originates primarily from skeletal muscle.