title: Skin autofluorescence is associated with arterial stiffness and insulin level in endurance runners and healthy controls - Effects of aging and endurance exercise.
abstract: Life-long regular endurance exercise yields positive effects on cardiovascular and metabolic function, disease and mortality rate. Glycation may be a major mechanism behind age-related diseases. However, it remains unknown if skin autofluorescence (SAF), which reflects glycation, is related to arterial and metabolic function in life-long endurance runners and sedentary controls.
  
  
  
  Healthy elderly men: 15 life-long endurance runners (OT) (64±4years) and 12 old untrained (OU) (66±4years), and healthy young men; ten young athletes (YT) (26±4years) matched to OT for running distance, and 12 young untrained (YU) (24±3years) were recruited. Endothelial function (reactive hyperemia index, RHI) and arterial stiffness (augmentation index, AI@75 and AI) were measured by an operator-independent PAT 2000. SAF was non-invasively determined using an autofluorescence spectrometer.
  
  
  
  For AI@75 there was an effect of age (p<0.0001), but not training (p=0.71). There was an interaction for endothelial function (p<0.05): YT had higher RHI than YU (p<0.05) and OU (p<0.01). SAF was associated with arterial stiffness (r2=0.57, p<0.001), insulin and HOMA-index levels after age correction (both r2=0.19, p<0.05).
  
  
  
  To our knowledge, these are the first data to show that skin autofluorescence (SAF) is linked to human arterial stiffness and insulin resistance in well-trained elderly and young men as well as sedentary controls. SAF may in the future be a helpful tool to predict vascular and metabolic dysfunction (early signs of aging and pathology). Surprisingly, endurance running only had modest effects on cardiovascular function compared to lean healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; IOC Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: ccouppe@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Couppé
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; IOC Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Cardiology, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian Have
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Dall
authors.affiliation: IOC Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Rene Brüggebusch
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Rasmus Huan
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: IOC Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karlsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Praet
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; IOC Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: S Peter
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Magnusson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D056352:Athletes; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003718:Denmark; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005453:Fluorescence; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced / Q000032:analysis; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D061385:Insulins / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012420:Running; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D059289:Vascular Stiffness; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced; D061385:Insulins
keywords: Aging; Endothelial function; Glycation; Running; Skin autofluorescence; Vascular stiffness