The effects of training and/or testosterone treatment and its aromatization to oestradiol on fatty-acid-binding protein (FABP) content and cytochrome c oxidase activity in heart, soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were studied in intact adult female rats. One group of rats remained sedentary, whereas the others were trained for 7 weeks. Thereafter the trained rats were divided into control and testosterone-treated groups, with or without an aromatase inhibitor. Testosterone was administered by a silastic implant. Training was continued for 2 weeks. In untreated sedentary rats the immunochemically assayed FABP contents were 497 +/- 28, 255 +/- 49 and 58 +/- 17 micrograms/g wet weight for the heart, soleus, and EDL respectively. In the heart the FABP content was increased after training (29%), testosterone treatment (33%) or both manipulations (53%). In soleus muscle FABP increased only after testosterone treatment (16%), whereas in EDL no changes were found. Inhibiting the aromatase enzyme complex abolished the testosterone-induced effect on FABP content in soleus (suggesting an oestradiol effect) but not in heart muscle. Among the three muscles studied the FABP content was found to be related to the cytochrome c oxidase activity in a non-linear way. In conclusion, it is shown that the FABP contents and mitochondrial activities of heart and skeletal muscle are affected by training and sex hormones and that these effects are different for heart and skeletal muscles.

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Thirty-five female runners (26.6 +/- 0.9 years, range 17-35) were scheduled for bone mineral density evaluation, using quantitative computed tomography of the lumbar spine. In 17 women with oligo-amenorrhea, vertebral bone mineral density was under the normal range (defined from a control group of 46 sedentary healthy females in the same age range), while it was within the normal range in all runners with regular menses (n = 18). When age classes were considered, all runners aged 17-21 (11/11) were found to have oligo-amenorrhea and low bone mineral density values, the difference in mineral density with the controls of the same age quartile being highly significant (p less than 0.001). Runners from the two youngest age classes (17-21 and 22-26) had started training early after menarche (0.9 +/- 0.6 and 2.5 +/- 1.6 years, respectively). These results show that very young female runners with oligo-amenorrhea may have impressively low bone mineral density values. The possibility that early onset of training, close to menarcheal age, might be a risk factor for low mineral density, deserves further investigation.