title: Does smoking status influence the effect of physical exercise on fibrinolytic function in healthy volunteers?
abstract: Exercise has been reported to simultaneously trigger and protect against sudden death, the so-called "The Paradox of Exercise". Differences in fibrinolytic function appear to exist between chronic and acute exercise. The aim of the present study was to assess the fibrinolytic system after strenuous exercise in healthy people and explored the influence of smoking habit.
  
  
  METHODS
  23 healthy male volunteers were studied (14 non-smokers; 9 current smokers). Citrated plasma blood samples were taken before and 30 minutes after a maximal exercise treadmill test, and levels of tissue type plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) antigen and lipoprotein-a, Lp(a), [all ELISA] were measured as indices of fibrinolytic function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smokers had higher body mass index and higher heart rate at baseline than non smokers (p = 0.046 and p = 0.001, respectively). At baseline, smokers showed increased plasma Lp(a) levels than non smokers (p = 0.04), with no differences in t-PA and PAI-1 antigen levels. Following the exercise treadmill test, smokers had a shorter exercise duration and lower exercise capacity than non smokers (p = 0.008 and p = 0.004, respectively). This was associated with a reduction in t-PA antigen levels in the whole study population, (p = 0.048) without differences in PAI-1 levels, with no significant differences between smokers and non smokers. Lp(a) levels were also significantly reduced (p = 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute exercise alters plasma tPA antigen and Lp(a) levels, but there was no significant effect of smoking status in healthy subjects.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Hospital General Universitario, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tello-Montoliu
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.forename: Vicente E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Climent
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sogorb
authors.forename: Gregory Y H
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Lip
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marín
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005342:Fibrinolysis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric