ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2020 November;60(11):1486-92

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.10997-6

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Muscle damage and inflammatory status biomarkers after a 3-stage trail running race

Nicola GIOVANELLI ^{1, 2}, Stefano LAZZER ^{1, 2} ✉, Sabina CAUCI ¹

BACKGROUND: Participants in ultramarathon and multi-stage races are continuously increasing. A detailed knowledge of the time-course of the restoration in muscular, cardiac, and inflammatory biomarkers after a multi-stage race may help the design of training schedules focused to avoid adverse outcomes of repetitive high-intensity endurance exercise and athlete exhaustion. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate blood parameters and serum biomarkers associated to muscle damage and inflammation in athletes participating in a 3-stage competition.
METHODS: Ten runners concluded the race “Magraid” consisting of 3 stages of 22, 48 and 20 km. Before (PRE), immediately after the end of the third stage (POST) and five days after the last stage (R5d), we collected blood samples.
RESULTS: Among others, at POST mean white blood cell (+57±42%; P=0.006), blood urea nitrogen (+68±39%; P<0.001), creatinine (+17±12%, P=0.005), alanine aminotransferase (ALT, +104±69%; P=0.002), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH, +116±64%; P<0.001), creatine kinase (CK, +2044±1433%; P=0.011), CK-MBm (+1544±1007%; P=0.004), cardiac troponin I (cTnI, +85±129%; P=0.015), C-reactive protein (hsCRP, +2137±1660%; P=0.015) were higher than PRE. At R5d, ALT (+72±53%; P=0.010), LDH (+32±25%; P=0.006) and hsCRP (+252±234%; P=0.021) were still different compared with PRE.
CONCLUSIONS: A 3-stage trail running race induces an inflammatory status and muscle damage and functional consequences on some physiological systems that may not be completely recovered within a short period.

KEY WORDS: Myoglobin; Creatine kinase; Troponin; C-reactive protein; Inflammation