title: Plasma amino acids and sports injuries.
abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between changes in plasma amino acids and the incidence of sports injuries during a soccer season. Fourteen plasma amino acids were assayed at monthly intervals in 12 young soccer players during a whole soccer season. Based on the number and severity of injuries the soccer players were divided into an injury-prone and a non-injury-prone group. The mean plasma level of the amino acid glycine was significantly lower ( P=0.009) in the injury-prone group than the other group, while the mean plasma levels of tyrosine, tryptophan and lysine were higher in the injury-prone group during this period ( P<0.05). However there were no significant differences in the calculated plasma tryptophan and tyrosine/large neutral amino acids ratios. Significant linear time trends were observed for taurine, ornithine, lysine and the tryptophan/large neutral amino acids ratio.These results indicate that the plasma concentrations of glycine and to a lesser extent those of tyrosine, tryptophan and lysine may be promising peripheral markers for injury-proneness in young soccer players. Whether a role for glycine substitution will be indicative to reduce the occurrence of sports injuries will need to be investigated in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M T M
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: van den Baar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fekkes
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: van den Hoogenband
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Duivenvoorden
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pepplinkhuizen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood*; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries; D013654:Taurine / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D013654:Taurine