Abstract
Regular physical activity reduces age-related metabolic and functional decline. The energy stored in adenine nucleotides (ATP, ADP, and AMP) is essential to enable multiple vital functions of erythrocytes and body tissues. Our study aimed to predict the rate of age-related changes in erythrocyte adenylate energetics in athletes and untrained controls. The erythrocyte concentration of adenylates was measured in 68 elite endurance runners (EN, 20–81 years), 58 elite sprinters (SP, 21–90 years), and 62 untrained individuals (CO, 20–68 years). Resting concentrations of ATP, total adenine nucleotide pool, and ADP/AMP ratio were lowest in the CO group and highest in the SP group. The concentration of erythrocyte ADP and AMP was lowest in the EN group and highest in the CO group. In all studied groups, we found a significant increase in the concentration of most erythrocyte adenylate metabolites with age. For ADP and AMP, the trend was also significant but decreasing. Our study strongly suggests that lifelong sports and physical activity participation supports erythrocyte energetics preservation. Although the direction and the predicted rates of change are similar regardless of the training status, the concentrations of particular metabolites are more advantageous in highly trained athletes than in less active controls. Of the two analyzed types of physical training, sprint-oriented training seems to be more efficient in enhancing erythrocyte metabolism throughout adulthood and old age than endurance training.
Highlights
Regular physical activity reduces age-related metabolic and functional decline
The inclusion criteria were (i) no reported history of a cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary disease or other severe/chronic diseases, (ii) no major orthopedic injury or illness resulting in an inability to run, (iii) no medications that could affect circulatory function, (iv) normal resting electrocardiogram, (v) body mass index (BMI) below 30.0 kg m−2, (vi) normal Red blood cell (RBC) count and Hb content, and (vii) no pathological states known of significantly elevated adenylate pool and concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), e.g. sickle cell disease, diabetes, leukemia, sepsis, tuberculosis, meningococcal infection, or renal insufficiency
All values are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD)
Summary
Regular physical activity reduces age-related metabolic and functional decline. The energy stored in adenine nucleotides (ATP, ADP, and AMP) is essential to enable multiple vital functions of erythrocytes and body tissues. The energy stored in ATP and other adenine nucleotides (adenosine diphosphate, ADP; adenosine monophosphate, AMP) is essential to preserve multiple vital functions of erythrocytes, such as maintaining glycolysis and purine metabolism, electrolyte gradient between plasma and cytoplasm, glutathione synthesis, asymmetry of phospholipid membrane, and keeping iron in hemoglobin (Hb) in the ferrous state[2]. Several factors limit the erythrocyte energy status, by reducing ATP concentration, adenosine triphosphate/adenosine diphosphate ratio (ATP/ADP), and adenylate energy charge (AEC). These are RBC enzymopathies[2], decreased erythrocyte deformability[3,4], sedentary lifestyle[5,6], neurodegenerative disorders, e.g. Alzheimer’s disease[7], or metabolic disorders, e.g. We revealed that in highly trained athletes an increase in hypoxanthine–guanine phosphoribosyltransferase
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