title: Oxidative stress, inflammation, and muscle soreness in an 894-km relay trail run.
abstract: We describe the effects of multi-day relay trail running on muscle soreness and damage, and systemic immune, inflammatory, and oxidative responses. 16 male and 4 female athletes ran 894 km in 47 stages over 95 h, with mean (SD) 6.4 (1.0) stages per athlete and 19.0 (1.7) km per stage. We observed post-pre run increases in serum creatine kinase (qualified effect size extremely large, p = 0.002), IL-6 (extremely large, p < 0.001), urinary 8-isoprostane/creatinine (extremely large, p = 0.04), TNF-α (large, p = 0.002), leukocyte count (very large, p < 0.0001) and neutrophil fraction (very large, p < 0.001); and reductions in hemoglobin (moderate, p < 0.001), hematocrit (moderate, p < 0.001), and lymphocyte fraction (trivial, p < 0.001). An increase in ORAC total antioxidant capacity (TAC, small, p = 0.3) and decrease in urinary 8-OHdG/creatinine (small, p = 0.1) were not statistically significant. During the run, muscle soreness was most frequent in the quadriceps. The threshold for muscle pain (pain-pressure algometry) in the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius was lower post-run (small, p = 0.04 and 0.03). Average running speed was correlated with algometer pain and leukocyte count (large, r = 0.52), and TAC was correlated with IL-6 (very large, r = 0.76) and 8-isoprostane/creatinine (very large, r = -0.72). Multi-day stage-racing increases inflammation, lipid peroxidation, muscle damage and soreness without oxidative DNA damage. High TAC is associated with reduced exercise-induced lipid peroxidation, but is not related to immune response or muscle damage.
authors.affiliation: School of Sport and Exercise, Massey University, Pvt Box 756, Wellington 6021, New Zealand. d.s.rowlands@massey.ac.nz
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Rowlands
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aboud
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Gillen
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gibala
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Donato
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Waddington
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tarnopolsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D015237:Dinoprost / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000652:urine; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D010146:Pain / Q000378:metabolism*; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D015850:Interleukin-6; C075750:8-epi-prostaglandin F2alpha; D015237:Dinoprost; D003402:Creatine Kinase