Abstract

The physiological response to high-level endurance exercise, such as running a marathon, poses several beneficial but also potentially harmful metabolic changes. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of marathon (M) and ultra-marathon (UM) on inflammation and iron homeostasis in paired samples. Fifteen well-trained, non-professional endurance athletes (14 males, 1 female) performed both a 130km ultra-marathon and a traditional 42.195km marathon. We determined markers of inflammation and iron homeostasis before, immediately after, and within 5days after finishing each run, respectively. Biomarkers of inflammation (leucocytes, neutrophil granulocytes, monocytes, and c-reactive protein [CRP]) increased significantly after both marathon and ultra-marathon with higher levels of CRP after ultra-marathon compared with marathon both immediately after the race (18.15±12.41 vs 5.58±9.65mg/L, P<.001) and at follow-up (15.67±16.97 vs 7.19±7.75mg/L, P=.045) Concentrations of ferritin also increased significantly after both races and remained high at follow-up. Higher levels of ferritin immediately after the race (111.5±103.2 vs 84.8±86.3, P=.001) and at follow-up (102.7±79.5 vs 74.6±65.6, P=.001) were found in ultra-marathon finishers. The observed increase of serum iron and transferrin saturation (TSAT) after marathon and the decrease of serum iron and TSAT after ultra-marathon resulted in a significant absolute difference between the two races. The present data suggest a higher degree of inflammation after ultra-marathon compared with marathon. Markers of iron homeostasis also showed different response patterns with regard to running distance.

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