Leukocyte Hsp72 mRNA transcription does not differ between males and females during heat acclimation

Abstract

Purpose: Thermotolerance is an acquired state of increased cytoprotection achieved following single or repeated exposures to heat stress, in part characterized by changes in the intracellular 72 kda heat shock protein (HSP72; HSPA1A). Females have demonstrated reduced exercise induced HSP72 in comparison to males. This study examined sex differences in heat shock protein 72 messenger ribonucleic acid (Hsp72 mRNA) transcription during heat acclimation (HA) to identify whether sex differences were a result of differential gene transcription. Methods: Ten participants (5M, 5F) performed 10, 90 min controlled hyperthermia [rectal temperature (T re ) 38.5 C] HA sessions over 12 d. Leukocyte Hsp72 mRNA was measured pre and post D1, D5, and D10, via Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-QPCR). Results: HA was evidenced by a reduction in resting T re (¡0.4 § 0.5 C) and resting heart rate [(HR); ¡13 § 7 beats.min Conclusions: This experiment demonstrates that there is no difference in Hsp72 mRNA increases during HA between sexes when controlled hyperthermia HA is utilised. Gender specific differences in exerciseinduced HSP72 reported elsewhere likely result from post-transcriptional events.

Heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance: A review and practitioner guidelines

“…change in T CORE ). It should be noted that this was observed in an experiment during which females exercised at lower absolute exercise intensities and therefore lower rates of absolute heat production which may account for differences [181]. More recent work is also supportive of the need for MTHA vs. STHA interventions in females, particularly those moderately trained (VȮ 2max~4 7 mL.kg −1 .min −1 ) who are seeking performance adaptations [182], although due to the duration of the experimental design adopted in these HA studies [110,182], responses were invariably evaluated across different phases of the menstrual cycle in both eumenorrheic and oral contraceptive users, which in part explain their findings.…”

“…some games players) may also consider this to induce adaptation prior to commencing more well-established HA protocols. When administered effectively, heat adaptation can be induced as effectively in females as males, with improvements in endurance [110,120,181] and intermittent sprint tasks [80] in both sexes, though data in elite female athletes remain scarce. The current literature suggests in order to ensure that appropriate magnitudes of adaptation take place, when working with female athletes, additional exposures should be considered to allow for any differences in temporal patterning be ameliorated in females.…”

Could Heat Therapy Be an Effective Treatment for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases? A Narrative Review

“…In comparison, male subjects had non-significant increases in HSP70 (+35%) and HSP27 phosphorylation (+32%) within skeletal muscle (Touchberry et al, 2007). These sex-specific responses are intriguing and warrant future investigation given no differences in Hsp70 mRNA have been reported during isothermic heat acclimation (Mee et al, 2016) and were not reported in the mixedsex cohort undertaking passive heating described above (Kuhlenhoelter et al, 2016).…”

Hypoxic Air Inhalation and Ischemia Interventions Both Elicit Preconditioning Which Attenuate Subsequent Cellular Stress In vivo Following Blood Flow Occlusion and Reperfusion

“…For a two tailed test with an alpha of 0.05 and power of 0.80, it was calculated that six participants were required to find an Hsp72 mRNA increase of 3.8-fold significant. This sample size is ≥others in the field (Puntschart et al, 1996 ; Febbraio and Koukoulas, 2000 ; Fehrenbach and Northoff, 2001 ; Fehrenbach et al, 2003b ; Liu et al, 2004 ; Mee et al, 2016 ).…”