EXERCISE TRAINING-INDUCED HYPERVOLEMIA: THE PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS IN THE GREYHOUND DOG AND THE HORSE.

Abstract

Four Greyhound dogs and six horses were utilized to study the physiological mechanisms associated with the development of an exercise training-induced hypervolemia. The animals were used in two separate experiments and were trained for 14 days on a treadmill ergometer and the data were used to formulate conclusions regarding the physiological and practical implications related to the phenomenon. The data reported in this dissertation indicated that exercise training will cause an expansion of the plasma volume in the Greyhound dog (+27%, P < 0.05) and the horse (+29.1% P < 0.05). Physiologically the result is similar in man, the dog, and the horse, however, the mechanisms by which this adaptation is reached appears to differ in each of the species. In the dog, water intake (+33%, P < 0.05) appears to be the primary mechanism for the increase in fluid volume. In the horse, renal control mechanisms (24-hr urine output -24.5%, P < 0.05) appear to be the primary mechanism with those that control the retention of solutes other than sodium predominating over those that control the reabsorption of sodium and water. Based upon the literature, it appears that in man, renal mechanisms predominate the hypervolemic response and mechanisms which control the conservation of sodium appear to be most active in the defense of the tonicity and volume of the vascular compartment. These species differences are important to the understanding of the physiology behind the onset of the training-induced hypervolemia and they provide pertinent information upon which decisions regarding the choice of animal models for future research.