The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Effect of Short-term Sprint Interval Training on Cell-free DNA Kinetics and Neuromuscular Fatigue in Young and Old Individuals

Ema Juskeviciute 1 Nerijus Eimantas 1 Marius Brazaitis 1 Perikles Simon 2 Elmo Neuberger 2
1Institute of Sport Science and Innovations, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania
2Department of Sports Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

Chronic low-grade inflammation is considered a major factor underlying age-related diseases and functional impairments, including declining physical performance. Given the wide range of benefits from exercise and physical activity, exercise has been proposed for the prevention or attenuation of the decrease in quality of life with aging. Sprint interval training (SIT), which comprises short high-intensity bursts of exercise interspaced with periods of rest, is highly metabolically demanding and a potent stimulus for inducing metabolic adaptations in human skeletal muscle.

We studied the release of cell free DNA (cfDNA) during high-intensity exercise and its correlation with neuromuscular fatigue and aging. Inflammation-related, acute, and transient increases in cfDNA have been observed in a number of different exercises. We recruited 10 recreationally healthy young and nine elderly men. In our study, training was composed of nine short high-intensity sessions (three sessions/week for three weeks, sessions of 4-6 repetitions of 30-s all-out cycling sprints). Blood samples were taken and neuromuscular measurements were performed before, immediately after exercise and at 1 h, 24 h postexercise in the first and last SIT sessions. Lactate was measured immediately before, after and 1 h postexercise. Despite the significant increase (p 0.001) in plasma cfDNA concentration after exercise in each group separately, no substantial differences were noticed between the young and old groups in both sessions (p 0.05). There was a positive correlation with lactate (p 0.05). Further, there was a time effect showing a decrease in Central Activation Ratio (CAR) in the young group (p 0.001), but no significant effect in the older group (p = 0.394). Immediately postexercise, CAR significantly declined compared with baseline in the young group only (p0.01). Immediately postexercise increases in cfDNA were directly related (p0.05) to changes in CAR 24 h postexercise. These results suggest that acute changes in cfDNA may predict performance during the recovery period in young individuals.

Ema Juskeviciute
Ema Juskeviciute
Lithuanian Sports University








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