Article date: February 2008
By: Jonas Pettersson, Ulf Hindorf, Paula Persson, Thomas Bengtsson, Ulf Malmqvist, Viktoria Werkström, Mats Ekelund, in Volume 65, Issue 2, pages 253-259
What is already known about this subject
Aim
To investigate the effect of intensive muscular exercise (weightlifting) on clinical chemistry parameters reflecting liver function in healthy men.
Methods
Fifteen healthy men, used to moderate physical activity not including weightlifting, performed an 1 h long weightlifting programme. Blood was sampled for clinical chemistry parameters [aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), gamma‐glutamyl transferase (γGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, creatine kinase (CK) and myoglobin] at repeated intervals during 7 days postexercise and at a follow‐up examination 10–12 days postexercise.
Results
Five out of eight studied clinical chemistry parameters (AST, ALT, LD, CK and myoglobin) increased significantly after exercise (P < 0.01) and remained increased for at least 7 days postexercise. Bilirubin, γGT and ALP remained within the normal range.
Conclusion
The liver function parameters, AST and ALT, were significantly increased for at least 7 days after the exercise. In addition, LD and, in particular, CK and myoglobin showed highly elevated levels. These findings highlight the importance of imposing restrictions on weightlifting prior to and during clinical studies. Intensive muscular exercise, e.g. weightlifting, should also be considered as a cause of asymptomatic elevations of liver function tests in daily clinical practice.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2007.03001.x
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