Abstract
The influence of ACE gene on athletic performance has been widely explored, and most of the published data refers to an I/D polymorphism leading to the presence (I allele) or absence (D allele) of a 287-bp sequence in intron 16, determining ACE activity in serum and tissues. A higher I allele frequency has been reported among elite endurance athletes, while the D allele was more frequent among those engaged in more power-orientated sports. However, on competitive swimming, the reproducibility of such associations is controversial. We thus compared the ACE genotype of elite swimmers with that of non-elite swimming cohort and of healthy control subjects. We thus sought an association of the ACE genotype of elite swimmers with their competitive distance. 39 Portuguese Olympic swimming candidates were classified as: short (<200 m) and middle (400-1,500 m) distance swimmers, respectively. A group of 32 non-elite swimmers were studied and classified as well, and a control group (n = 100) was selected from the Portuguese population. Chelex 100 was used for DNA extraction and genotype was determined by PCR-RFLP methods. We found that ACE genotype distribution and allelic frequency differs significantly by event distance only among elite swimmers (P < or = 0.05). Moreover, the allelic frequency of the elite short distance swimmers differed significantly from that of the controls (P = 0.021). No associations were found between middle distance swimmers and controls. Our results seem to support an association between the D allele and elite short distance swimming.
Highlights
The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) catalyzes the conversion of angiotensin I into angiotensin II (Ang II), a peptide that is physiologically active
We found that ACE genotype distribution and allelic frequency diVers signiWcantly by event distance only among elite swimmers (P · 0.05)
The swimmers were stratiWed into two homogeneous groups, based on their current distance event of expertise: short distance swimmers (SDS), between 50 and 200 m and middle distance swimmers (MDS), 400–1,500 m
Summary
The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) catalyzes the conversion of angiotensin I into angiotensin II (Ang II), a peptide that is physiologically active. Studies concerning the eVect of ACE genotype on skeletal muscle strength and mass in response to strength training have yielded inconsistent results (Folland et al 2000; Pescatello et al 2006; Thomis et al 2004; Williams et al 2005). Regarding the swim event expertise, these studies had inconsistency between their sample stratiWcation, which does not allow the comparative analysis of the results. In this context, our main goal was to determine I/D allele frequencies of the Portuguese elite swimmers and to establish a more accurate association between I/D allele frequency with event specialization and swim level
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