title: Low-Intensity physical activity beneficially alters the ultrastructural renal morphology of spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Kidney disorders can cause essential hypertension, which can subsequently cause renal disease. High blood pressure is also common among those with chronic kidney disease; moreover, it is a well-known risk factor for a more rapid progression to kidney failure. Because hypertension and kidney function are closely linked, the present study aimed to observe the beneficial effects of low-intensity physical activity on structural and ultrastructural renal morphology and blood pressure in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male Wistar-Kyoto rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats were randomly allocated into four groups: sedentary or exercised Wistar-Kyoto and sedentary or exercised spontaneously hypertensive rats. The exercise lasted 20 weeks and consisted of treadmill training for 1 hour/day, 5 days/week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The exercised, spontaneously hypertensive rats showed a significant blood pressure reduction of 26%. The body masses of the Wistar-Kyoto and spontaneously hypertensive strains were significantly different. There were improvements in some of the renal structures of the animals treated with physical activity: (i) the interdigitations of the proximal and distal convoluted tubules; (ii) the basal membrane of the proximal and distal convoluted tubules; and (iii) in the basal membrane, slit diaphragm and pedicels of the glomerular filtration barrier. The spontaneously hypertensive rats also showed a decreased expression of connexin-43.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physical exercise could be a therapeutic tool for improving kidney ultrastructure and, consequently, renal function in hypertensive individuals.
authors.affiliation: Histologia e Embriologia, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. abpgarcia@gmail.com
authors.forename: Angélica Beatriz
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Garcia-Pinto
authors.forename: Verônica Soares
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: de Matos
authors.forename: Vinicius
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Jéssica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moraes-Teixeira
authors.forename: Jorge José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY