Antioxidant Status and Oxidative Stress in Professional Rugby Players: Evolution Throughout a Season

Abstract

Physical training is known to increase the antioxidant defence system and reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress. However, intense physical aerobic and anaerobic training and competition such as those imposed on professional rugby players, can induce an increase of oxidative stress which can be implicated with the arrival of overtraining. The aim of this study was to test the effect of training and competition load on oxidative stress, antioxidant status, haematological, and cell damage markers in high-level rugby players during a competitive season. Blood samples were collected four times in one year. Oxidative stress (Rmax), antioxidant (vitamin E, uric acid, TAC, and lag phase), haematological (neutrophils and monocytes) and biochemical (CK and myoglobin) parameters, as well as training and competition load, and competition results were measured. Intense periods of training and competition (T1 and T4) induced a significant higher maximum rate of conjugated dienes oxidation (+67.2% in T1 and +40.6% in T4) compared to those observed at the reference time (T3). Those periods also induced an increase in uric acid (+6.9% and 3.2%), and inflammatory markers such as monocytes (+13.3% and 10.7%). On the other hand, vitamin E (-8.7% in T1) and lag phase (-23.0% and -14.7%) were lower during these periods showing a possible training-induced antioxidant down-regulation. The less intense period of training (T2) was accompanied by lower neutrophils (-8.5%), CK (-53.7%), and myoglobin (-16.2%) values. The results suggest that oxidative stress and antioxidant measurement are significant in the biological follow-up of athletes.

Effect of rugby training on blood antioxidant defenses in able-bodied and spinal cord injured players

“…Also Melikoglu et al 14 discovered that SOD and GPX activities were higher in basketball players than in sedentary men. Finaud et al 15 stressed that oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity can be modified by magnitude of training loads in team sport such as rugby. Evelson et al 16 determined that resting SOD activity in well-trained rugby players was higher compared with sedentary men.…”

Exercise and the Immune System – Focusing on the Effect of Exercise on Neutrophil Functions

“…Vitamin E (VE) and vitamin C, as antioxidants, play an important role in protecting the cells and muscles from damage (62)(63)(64)(65). It is well-established that exercise exerts imbalance on the oxidative state by increasing Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and decreasing the level of antioxidants (63). As previously shown, intense or prolonged exercise can adversely affect the function of the immune system.…”

Impacto do triatlon ironman sobre os parametros de estresse oxidative. DOI:10.5007/1980-0037.2012v14n2p174

“…Among the biochemical and physiological changes affecting ironman athletes, researchers have focused their attention on oxidative stress 6,7 . The consumption of oxygen for aerobic production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) may increase from 10 to 20 times during exercises compared with resting levels 8 and up to 100 times when referring to muscles 9 . This causes a concomitant increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent oxidative damage to cellular structure because of oxidation of membrane lipids, protein carbonylation, carbohydrate oxidation, and damage to nucleic acids 9 .…”