Abstract
Iron is essential for physical activity due to its role in energy production pathways and oxygen transportation via hemoglobin and myoglobin. Changes in iron-related biochemical parameters after physical exercise in athletes are of substantial research interest, but molecular mechanisms such as gene expression are still rarely tested in sports. In this paper, we evaluated the mRNA levels of genes related to iron metabolism (PCBP1, PCBP2, FTL, FTH, and TFRC) in leukocytes of 24 amateur runners at four time points: before, immediately after, 3 h after, and 24 h after a marathon. We measured blood morphology as well as serum concentrations of iron, ferritin, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Our results showed significant changes in gene expression (except for TFRC), serum iron, CRP, and morphology after the marathon. However, the alterations in mRNA and protein levels occurred at different time points (immediately and 3 h post-run, respectively). The levels of circulating ferritin remained stable, whereas the number of transcripts in leukocytes differed significantly. We also showed that running pace might influence mRNA expression. Our results indicated that changes in the mRNA of genes involved in iron metabolism occurred independently of serum iron and ferritin concentrations.
Highlights
Iron is essential for physical activity due to its role in energy production pathways and oxygen transportation via hemoglobin and myoglobin [1]
To the best of our knowledge, there are no data focused on the effect of endurance exercise on the mRNA of genes related to iron metabolism
The aim of our study was to examine the changes in serum iron and ferritin concentrations together with the changes in leukocyte mRNA levels of genes encoding proteins involved in iron metabolism i.e., PCBP1 (poly(rC) binding protein 1), PCBP2 (poly(rC) binding protein 2), FTH1, FTL and TFRC
Summary
Iron is essential for physical activity due to its role in energy production pathways and oxygen transportation via hemoglobin and myoglobin [1]. Athletes are considered to be at greater risk of iron deficiency than the general population, supportive data are inconclusive [2,3]. Research interest in iron metabolism during and after exercise has grown because physical activity can affect iron and iron-regulatory protein status in many ways, such as by inducing oxidative stress and inflammation [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Terink et al [13] reported that most of the studies related to iron metabolism were conducted on well-trained athletes, mainly during short and intensive efforts. To the best of our knowledge, there are no data focused on the effect of endurance exercise on the mRNA of genes related to iron metabolism
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