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NT-ProBNP levels, water and sodium homeostasis in healthy men: effects of 7 days of dry immersion

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Abstract

Immersion is a useful tool for studying fluid-volume homeostasis. Natriuretic peptides play a vital role in renal, humoral, and cardiovascular regulation under changing environmental conditions. We hypothesized that dry immersion would rapidly induce a new steady state for water and sodium metabolism, and that serum NT-proBNP levels, a proxy measure for brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), would decrease during long-term dry immersion and increase during recovery. Eight healthy young men were studied before, during, and after 7 days of dry immersion. Body weight, water balance, and plasma volume changes were evaluated. Plasma and serum samples were analyzed for active renin, NT-proBNP, aldosterone, electrolytes, osmolality, total protein, and creatinine. Urine samples were analyzed to determine levels of electrolytes, osmolality, creatinine, and free cortisol. A stand test was performed before and after dry immersion to evaluate cardiovascular deconditioning. Long-term dry immersion induced acute changes in water and sodium homeostasis on day 1, followed by a new steady state. Plasma volume decreased significantly during dry immersion. The serum levels of NT-proBNP increased significantly in recovery (10 ± 3 ng/L before dry immersion vs. 26 ± 5 ng/L on the fourth recovery day). Heart rate in the standing position was significantly greater after immersion. Results suggest that chronic dry immersion rapidly induced a new level of water-electrolyte homeostasis. The increase in NT-proBNP levels during the recovery period may be related to greater cardiac work and might reflect the degree of cardiovascular deconditioning.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the volunteers for their participation in this dry immersion protocol at the IBMP in 2006–2007. We are grateful to Jackie Godfrey for the syntax review. This work was supported by a PhD grant from the French Embassy in Belarus to N. Navasiolava. This study was supported by Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Region des Pays de la Loire.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Médecine, CNRS UMR 6214, INSERM U771, 49045, Angers Cedex, France

    Nastassia M. Navasiolava & Marc-Antoine Custaud

  2. Nephrology Department, Angers University Hospital, Angers, France

    Aurelie Pajot

  3. Biochemistry Laboratory, Angers University Hospital, Angers, France

    Yves Gallois

  4. Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP), Russian Academy of Sciences, Khoroshevskoye Shosse 76A, 123007, Moscow, Russia

    Nastassia M. Navasiolava, Ludmila Kh. Pastushkova, Inesa B. Kozlovskaya, Irina M. Larina & Marc-Antoine Custaud

  5. Institute of Physiology of Minsk, Minsk, Belarus

    Nastassia M. Navasiolava & Vladimir A. Kulchitsky

  6. French Space Agency (CNES), Paris, France

    Guillemette Gauquelin-Koch

  7. DLR-Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany

    Martina Heer & Olga Hand

  8. Profil Institute for Metabolic Research, Neuss, Germany

    Martina Heer

  9. CaDyWEC International Laboratory, Angers Faculty of Medicine, 49045, Angers Cedex, France

    Nastassia M. Navasiolava, Ludmila Kh. Pastushkova, Irina M. Larina & Marc-Antoine Custaud

Authors
  1. Nastassia M. Navasiolava
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  2. Aurelie Pajot
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  3. Yves Gallois
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  4. Ludmila Kh. Pastushkova
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  5. Vladimir A. Kulchitsky
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  6. Guillemette Gauquelin-Koch
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  7. Inesa B. Kozlovskaya
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  8. Martina Heer
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  9. Olga Hand
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  10. Irina M. Larina
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  11. Marc-Antoine Custaud
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nastassia M. Navasiolava.

Additional information

Communicated by Dag Linnarsson.

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Navasiolava, N.M., Pajot, A., Gallois, Y. et al. NT-ProBNP levels, water and sodium homeostasis in healthy men: effects of 7 days of dry immersion. Eur J Appl Physiol 111, 2229–2237 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1858-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1858-7

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