Immuno‐endocrine and metabolic responses to long distance ski racing in world‐class male and female cross‐country skiers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize the extent of immune, endocrine, substrate and metabolic changes during a long-distance cross-country ski race in extremely well-trained athletes and evaluate if the blood perturbations would indicate signs of health risk. Ten male (M) and six female (F) national team skiers were investigated as they followed their usual routines of race preparations. Blood samples were drawn before and immediately after a World Cup 50-km M and 30-km F ski race with a mean finish time of 142 and 104 min, respectively. Hemoglobin, electrolytes, and C-reactive protein remained unchanged for both M and F. Serum testosterone remained unchanged in M, but doubled in F. Significant increases were observed in concentrations of granulocytes (F: 5 x, M: 5 x), natural killer cells (F: 2 x, M: 1.5 x), adrenaline (F: 12 x, M:10 x), noradrenaline (F: 7 x, M:5 x), growth hormone (F: 30 x, M: 2 x), cortisol (F: 1.5 x, M:2 x), glucose (F: 2 x, M:1.5 x), creatine kinase (F: 2 x, M:2 x), uric acid (F: 1.5 x, M: 1.5 x) and non-organic phosphate (F:2 x, M:2 x), while insulin concentration decreased (F: 0.5x, M: 0.8 x). Free fatty acid (FFA) concentration increased (F:2 x, M: 3 x). In conclusion, we observed substantial changes in several immuno-endocrine, substrate and metabolic measurements after long distance cross-country ski racing and suggest that some of these marked changes may reflect the large amount of muscle mass involved during skiing.

Effects of whole-body cryotherapy on serum mediators of inflammation and serum muscle enzymes in athletes

“…Sustained noradrenaline stimulation during long-term cold exposure and WBC could play a role in relieving pain and creating an enhanced sense of well-being. However, in top-level athletes exercising in a cold environment, there is a simultaneous increase in noradrenaline and CK levels, with the noradrenaline increase generally higher than that of CK (seven-fold versus two-fold), when compared with baseline values (Rønsen et al, 2004) Noradrenaline stimulation cannot completely explain the CK decrease in our subjects after WBC treatment, but it may have triggered a cascade of events that induced the decrease.…”

Ultra‐endurance exercise induces stress and inflammation and affects circulating hematopoietic progenitor cell function

“…Regarding ultra‐endurance exercise‐induced changes in the mature hematopoietic system, which are closely related to inflammatory and metabolic stress parameters (Ronsen et al., ; Walsh et al., ), our study provides broad insight into the immature HSPC compartment. Similar to other studies (Walsh et al., 2011a,b; Marklund et al., ), we observed elevated levels of total leukocytes, neutrophil granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes in the athletes after the competition.…”

Carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism responses to a graded maximal exercise test and recovery period in athletes and sedentary subjects

“…This could be due to the extremely high fitness level of the subjects [25]. High plasma FFA concentrations are considered to be a health risk because of their ability to damage membranes [26] and further investigation in this population of elite athletes are warranted.…”