Abstract
Although physical activity is a health-promoting, popular global pastime, regular engagement in strenuous exercises, such as long-distance endurance running races, has been associated with a variety of detrimental physiological and immunological health effects. The resulting altered physiological state has previously been associated with fluctuations in various key metabolite concentrations; however, limited literature exists pertaining to the global/holistic metabolic changes that are induced by such. This investigation subsequently aims at elucidating the metabolic changes induced by a marathon by employing an untargeted proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectrometry metabolomics approach. A principal component analysis (PCA) plot revealed a natural differentiation between pre- and post-marathon metabolic profiles of the 30-athlete cohort, where 17 metabolite fluctuations were deemed to be statistically significant. These included reduced concentrations of various amino acids (AA) along with elevated concentrations of ketone bodies, glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and AA catabolism intermediates. Moreover, elevated concentrations of creatinine and creatine in the post-marathon group supports previous findings of marathon-induced muscle damage. Collectively, the results of this investigation characterize the strenuous metabolic load induced by a marathon and the consequential regulation of main energy-producing pathways to accommodate this, and a better description of the cause of the physiological changes seen after the completion of a marathon.
Highlights
Anaerobic glycolysis typically involves the conversion of accumulating pyruvic acid to lactic acid, via lactic acid dehydrogenase, accepting NADH as a coenzyme, and producing
This is concurrent with the elevated post-marathon lactic acid and pyruvic acid observed in the current investigation (Figure 2) and is further supported by previous studies [18,25]
This is supported by the studies conducted by Stander et al [25] and Lewis et al [18] who reported elevated post-marathon serum glucose, as well as an elevation in the gluconeogenesis-associated metabolites
Summary
Has participation in marathons become increasingly common, but it has become affiliated with the many health benefits that are associated with aerobic exercise [2]. Regular participation in these endurance running events have been found to induce numerous potentially deleterious immunological and physiological health effects. Some of these immunological effects include acute pro- and anti-inflammatory responses [6], damage to bronchial epithelial cells [7], a perturbed mucosal immune system, and higher susceptibility to symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections [8]. Short-term occurrences of muscle damage [9] and medial tibial stress syndrome [10] are common for the average marathon participant, while more acute effects such as an increased risk for myocardial fibrosis [11], deleterious cardiac structural changes [12], as well as acute liver and renal damage [13] have been reported for extreme/elite veteran marathon athletes
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