Muscle Work and Its Relationship with ACE and ACTN3 Polymorphisms Are Associated with the Improvement of Explosive Strength.

Alberto Melián Ortiz,David Varillas-Delgado,Sofía Laguarta-Val

doi:10.3390/genes12081177

Abstract

Background: The potential influence of genetics in athletic performance allows the search for genetic profiles associated with muscular work for the orientation of strength training and sports selection. The purpose of the study was to analyze four muscular exercises for effectiveness in improving explosive strength variables, associated to the genetics in Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and α-actinin-3 (ACTN3) polymorphisms. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on a sample of 80 subjects allocated into four groups: concentric muscle work (CMW), eccentric muscle work (EMW), concentric-eccentric muscle (C-EMW) work and isometric muscular work (IMW), by block and gender randomization. Vertical jump, long jump, power jump, and speed were measured to study explosive strength. Genotypic frequencies of ACE (rs4646994) and ACTN3 (rs1815739) were obtained by polymerase chain reaction. Results: ACE gen showed significant improvements regarding the DD genotype in the Sargent test (p = 0.003) and sprint velocity test (p = 0.017). In the ACTN3 gene, the RR variable obtained improvement results with regard to RX and XX variables in long jump (p < 0.001), Sargent test (p < 0.001) and power jump (p = 0.004). Conclusions: The selected genes demonstrated an influence on the muscle work and the improvement in explosive strength variables with a decisive role regarding the type of muscle work performed.

Highlights

Muscle strength training is considered as an essential activity for ensuring adequate physical performance applied to any sport
The descriptive analysis was assessed in means and standard deviations (SD) for quantitative variables, while qualitative variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages
This data differs from the data shown in this study, as it is proven that participants with the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) D allele show a power and speed improvement in Long Jump (LJ), but there is no association with these physiological variables in the ACTN3 gene

Summary

Introduction

Muscle strength training is considered as an essential activity for ensuring adequate physical performance applied to any sport. Since the discovery of the human genome, considerable research has been conducted on the possible influence of genetics on athletic performance; genetic factors are believed to determine between 20% and 80% of a wide variety of traits relevant to sports performance, such as oxygen consumption, cardiac output, glucose/lipids metabolism or the relative proportion of slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers in the trained skeletal muscle [3,4] This previous knowledge has led research to focus on the search for genetic profiles associated with that performance and to allow, in turn, training orientation and sport selection [5,6,7]. Conclusions: The selected genes demonstrated an influence on the muscle work and the improvement in explosive strength variables with a decisive role regarding the type of muscle work performed

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Discussion

Conclusion