A group of researchers from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) has confirmed, through a series of experiments, that irisin, a substance released by muscle tissue during physical activity, is science's latest hope for protecting the kidneys. of diabetic people from the damage caused by the progression of the disease.
Also known as the exercise hormone, it is considered by scientists as one of the main chemical messengers responsible for the long list of benefits provided by regular physical activity to the human body.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, showed for the first time how it can prevent the kidney damage caused by diabetes. Silent, the disease affects between 20% and 40% of diabetics. By causing damage to the blood vessels, arteries and veins that supply the kidneys, it leads to chronic kidney failure.
“We found that aerobic exercise is associated with an increase in muscle irisin in the bloodstream and also in the kidneys, providing nephroprotection”, explains physician José Butori Lopes de Faria, from the Laboratory of Renal Pathophysiology and Diabetes Complications at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM-Unicamp) and advisor to Guilherme Pedron Formigari, first author of the study.
The researchers evaluated human serum (centrifuged blood, without red blood cells) from exercised, sedentary diabetics. In the samples from those who remained active, the irisin found protected the kidney and reduced the damage to tubular cells exposed to high glucose concentration.
Identified by biologists at Harvard University (United States) a decade ago, irisin has been the subject of many studies aimed at unraveling its mechanisms of action.
Research with rodents has already shown, for example, that this hormone is also important for memory formation and the protection of neurons in rodents with a disease similar to Alzheimer's, among other benefits.
The information is from Agência Fapesp.