Int J Sports Med 2010; 31(6): 367-371
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1249083
Physiology & Biochemistry

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Effects of High Intensity Exercise on Isoelectric Profiles and SDS-PAGE Mobility of Erythropoietin

S. Voss1 , A. Lüdke1 , S. Romberg1 , E. Schänzer1 , U. Flenker1 , M. deMarees2 , S. Achtzehn2 , J. Mester2 , W. Schänzer1
  • 1Institute of Biochemistry, German Sport University Cologne, Germany
  • 2Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics, German Sport University Cologne, Germany
Further Information

Publication History

accepted after revision February 08, 2010

Publication Date:
23 April 2010 (online)

Abstract

Exercise induced proteinuria is a common phenomenon in high performance sports. Based on the appearance of so called “effort urines” in routine doping analysis the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of exercise induced proteinuria on IEF profiles and SDS-PAGE relative mobility values (rMVs) of endogenous human erythropoietin (EPO). Twenty healthy subjects performed cycle-ergometer exercise until exhaustion. VO2max, blood lactate, urinary proteins and urinary creatinine were analysed to evaluate the exercise performance and proteinuria. IEF and SDS-PAGE analyses were performed to test for differences in electrophoretic behaviour of the endogenous EPO before and after exercise. All subjects showed increased levels of protein/creatinine ratio after performance (8.8±5.2–26.1±14.4). IEF analysis demonstrated an elevation of the relative amount of basic band areas (13.9±11.3–36.4±12.6). Using SDS-PAGE analysis we observed a decrease in rMVs after exercise and no shift in direction of the recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) region (0.543±0.013–0.535±0.012). Following identification criteria of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) all samples were negative. The implementation of the SDS-PAGE method represents a good solution to distinguish between results influenced by so called effort urines and results of rhEPO abuse. Thus this method can be used to confirm adverse analytical findings.

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Correspondence

Sven Voss

German Sport University Cologne

Institute of Biochemistry

Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6

50933 Cologne

Germany

Phone: +49/221/498 24920

Fax: +49/221/497 3236

Email: s.voss@gmx.de