Urinary insulin-like growth factor I in athletes, before and after physical exercise, and in sedentary subjects

Background: Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), like growth hormone (GH), is excreted in urine in a smaller fraction than the concentration found in blood. Exercising subjects undergo post-exercise proteinuria. The present work aims to propose a method for urinary IGF-I analysis (uIGF-I) by defining urinary concentration in sedentary individuals and athletes before and after strenuous exercise. Methods: Urine samples were collected from 30 sedentary healthy male individuals during the morning and from 30 well-trained cyclists, before and after a competition of about 3 h (150 km). uIGF-I was measured in undiluted acidified urine by radio immunoassay (RIA) method using a purified polyclonal rabbit antibody, human I-125-IGF-I and a second anti-rabbit antiserum. The acidification of the urine samples and the excess of IGF-II addition in the incubation medium of the assay were used to dissociate the binding and to block the interference from IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs). Urinary growth hormone (uGH), total protein (utPr) and creatinine (ucr) concentrations were also measured by immunoradiometric assay (IRMA), colorimetric and capillary electrophoresis methods, respectively. Results: The analysis range was 0-2500 ng/l (0-327 pmol/l), the intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variations (CVs) ranged from 2.3% to 7.8%, respectively. The detection limit was 0.6 pg/tube. The uIGF-I/creatinine (cr) ratio in healthy subjects was 70 +/- 8 pg/mg cr. The uIGF-I/creatinine ratio (pg/mg cr) was different (p<0.001) in athletes before vs. after competition 93 +/- 27 vs. 136 +/- 13. Athletes' [uIGF-I/total proteins] ratio (ng/mg tPr) before and post-exercise was 2.3 +/- 0.5 and 2.5 +/- 0.3, respectively. Conclusions: uIGF-I assay appears to be an effective way of monitoring IGF-I excretion. In the cyclists, in the pre-exercise state, uIGF-I was comparable with that measured in sedentary healthy individuals. In the cyclists, after strenuous exercise, the increased uIGF-I/cr and uGH/cr ratios suggested a relation with the post-exercise proteinuria. In conclusion, proteinuria physiologically obtained, such as postexercise proteinuria, might be a new approach in IGF-I system investigation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.