LAUSR

BACKGROUND Physical exercise is a well-established strategy to control blood pressure. Nonetheless, its effects on protein homeostasis in individuals with hypertension are not clearly defined. AIMS Evaluate proteostasis, quality of life, and inflammatory, oxidative stress and vasoactive biomarkers in adults with hypertension regarding reported exercise habits. METHODS Twenty individuals were recruited in a health care centre, 10 regular exercisers (age: 68.3±4.2 years) and 10 age-matched individuals without regular exercise participation (age: 67.7±5.1 years). Proteostasis and the levels of ubiquitin, heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2), tissue inhibitor of MMP2 (TIMP-2), connexin 43 (cx43) and extracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD-3) were assessed in plasma using immunoblotting techniques (western blot or slot-blot) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Quality of life was assessed using the Short Form 36 (SF-36) version 2.0 questionnaire. RESULTS Significant higher levels of IL-6 (p=0.014), eNOS (p=0.011), Cx43 (p=0.020), TIMP-2 (p=0.038) and SOD-3 (p=0.001), with a fold increase of 1.5, 1.2, 2.1, 1.3 and 1.2 respectively, were found in the exercise group. The overall quality of life (60.1±4.3 vs. 53.2±5.9, p=0.009), as well as mental health domain (59.4±7.9 vs. 50.7±7.2, p=0.024) were significantly higher in the exercise group. Multivariate analysis by FTIR showed that the age-matched group is characterized by peaks related with anti-parallel β-sheet, while exercise group is characterized by peaks related to random coils, β-sheet and α-helix. CONCLUSIONS Individuals with regular exercise participation showed better proteostasis, quality of life, inflammatory profile, antioxidant defences, and eNOS levels.