Exercise in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Does Not Significantly Alter Fibrosis in Quadriceps Muscle
Authors: Brashear Sarah , Ahmadi Armin , Rao Vishal , Kim Kyungjoon , Begue Gwenaelle , Kim Tae Youn , Gamboa Jorge 
Published: May 2024

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is commonly associated with decreased physical activity and muscle dysfunction. Muscles in CKD become fibrotic, containing excess extracellular matrix (ECM), particularly collagen. Collagen is cross-linked in the ECM, and increased cross-linking is often associated with fibrosis, stiffness, and reduced ECM remodeling. However, it is not known how exercise in patients with CKD may impact the extent of collagen cross-linking or fibrosis. Additionally, muscle fibrosis may impair muscle adaptations to exercise including, fiber size, fiber type, or vasculature. We predicted that collagen content and cross-linking would decrease, and there would be more Type I fibers and larger fiber size in the patients that were in the exercise group. Methods: Participants were randomized to exercise (n=15) or no exercise (n=5) groups in the Exercise Study Testing Enhanced Energetics of Mitochondria (ESTEEM) clinical trial of non-dialysis patients with CKD. The exercise program consisted of 35 min sessions, 3 times a week for 12 weeks consisting of high-intensity interval training, strength training, and power walking. Vastus lateralis biopsies were obtained before and after the 12 weeks of exercise. A bundle of muscle tissue was powdered and separated into a pepsin soluble and insoluble fraction before applying a hydroxyproline assay for collagen content, with the insoluble fraction representing more cross-linked collagen. For histological analysis 10 μm thick cryosections were stained with Picrosirius Red, or immunofluorescent stains to investigate satellite cells, vasculature, fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs), and muscle fiber types. Picrosirius red sections were imaged under polarized light to look at birefringence as a measure of collagen density. Sections that were stained for fiber type and vasculature were analyzed using semi-automatic muscle analysis using segmentation of histology (SMASH). Results: The overall amount of collagen and collagen cross-linking were not altered in either the exercise or no exercise groups. Picrosirius red stained sections did not reveal a change in ECM area or collagen packing density with exercise. Surprisingly minimum ferret diameter and percentage of type I (slow twitch) fibers decreased in most patients that underwent the exercise program. Type I and type IIa (fast oxidative) fiber size also significantly decreased, while there was no change in type IIx (fast glycolytic) fiber size. Conclusion: This study shows that exercise does not dramatically reduce ECM content or muscle fibrosis in patients with CKD. Surprisingly, the response to exercise was opposite of that anticipated in healthy subject with exercise in CKD producing smaller muscle fibers and a shift away from more oxidative type I fibers. This shows that exercise may have limited capacity to enhance function in CKD muscle, potentially due to irreversible fibrosis. Work supported by mitochondrial bioenergetics in persons with chronic kidney disease (NIH R03DK114502). This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.