title: The effects of regular strength training on telomere length in human skeletal muscle.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The length of DNA telomeres is an important parameter of the proliferative potential of tissues. A recent study has reported abnormally short telomeres in skeletal muscle of athletes with exercise-associated fatigue. This important report raises the question of whether long-term practice of sports might have deleterious effects on muscle telomeres. Therefore, we aimed to compare telomere length of a group of power lifters (PL; N = 7) who trained for 8 +/- 3 yr against that of a group of healthy, active subjects (C; N = 7) with no history of strength training.
  
  
  METHODS
  Muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis, and the mean and minimum telomeric restriction fragments (TRF) (telomere length) were determined, using the Southern blot protocol previously used for the analysis of skeletal muscle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no abnormal shortening of telomeres in PL. On the contrary, the mean (P = 0.07) and the minimum (P = 0.09) TRF lengths in PL tended to be higher than in C. In PL, the minimum TRF length was inversely correlated to the individual records in squat (r = -0.86; P = 0.01) and deadlift (r = -0.88; P = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show for the first time that long-term training is not associated with an abnormal shortening of skeletal muscle telomere length. Although the minimum telomere length in PL remains within normal physiological ranges, a heavier load put on the muscles means a shorter minimum TRF length in skeletal muscle.
authors: Department of Health Sciences, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden. Fawzi.Kadi@hi.oru.se
authors: Fawzi
authors: F
authors: Kadi
authors: Elodie
authors: E
authors: Ponsot
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Piehl-Aulin
authors: Abigail
authors: A
authors: Mackey
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Kjaer
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Oskarsson
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Holm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D032496:Satellite Cells, Skeletal Muscle; D019098:Telomerase; D016615:Telomere; D035321:Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 1; D014891:Weight Lifting / Q000502:physiology*; D016474:Weight-Bearing
chemical_list: D035321:Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 1; D019098:Telomerase