Exercise-induced hormone responses in girls at different stages of sexual maturation

Abstract

The dependence of exercise-induced hormone responses on sexual maturation was tested in a 3-year longitudinal experiment on 34 girls (aged 11-12 years at the beginning). Sexual maturation was evaluated by Tanners five-stage scale. Children cycled for 20-min at 60% maximal oxygen uptake once a year. Cortisol, insulin, growth hormone, beta-oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone concentrations in venous blood were determined by radioimmunoassay procedures. Basal concentrations of growth hormone increased and of cortisol decreased when breast stage III was reached. Reaching breast stage IV was associated with an increase in basal concentrations of beta-oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone. The exercise induced significant increases in concentrations of cortisol, growth hormone and beta-oestradiol and a decrease in insulin concentration. At breast stage III the increase in cortisol concentration was to a lower level [467 (SEM 42) vs 567 (SEM 46)nmol x l(-1)] and growth hormone concentration to a higher level [29.4 (SEM 0.5) vs 12.8 (SEM 0.4)ng x ml(-1)], while the fall in insulin concentration was less pronounced [postexercise level 10.6 (SEM 0.9) vs 7.8 (SEM 0.8)mU x l(-1)] than in stage II. The magnitude of the cortisol response was reduced in the last stage of breast development (+42.1% vs +55.5% at stage II, +66.2% at stage III, and +50.0% at stage IV). The magnitude of beta-oestradiol response was the lowest in breast stage IV (+15.8%) and the highest at stage V (+41.1%). The progesterone response became significant at stage IV and testosterone response at stage V. In conclusion, we found that reaching breast stage III was associated with altered responses of cortisol, insulin and growth hormone concentrations while the responses of the sex hormone concentrations became pronounced in the last stages of sexual maturation.

The effect of anaerobic exercise on salivary cortisol, testosterone and immunoglobulin (A) in boys aged 15–16 years

“…In agreement with previous research, post exercise testosterone concentrations were elevated (p · 0.05) in this study (Viru et al 1999;Di Luigi et al 2006). The hormonal response to exercise is directly related to the intensity of a particular stimulus (KochajskaDziurowicz et al 2001); it is thought that the physiological causes for increased testosterone during exercise include reduced testosterone clearance (Cadouxhudson et al 1985) and augmented secretion induced by catecholamines (Jezowa et al 1985).…”

“…For this reason, it is essential that saliva levels are not reported immediately post exercise. In the present study, the participants provided unstimulated saliva samples at rest, and, as reported previously in the literature, at 5 min post exercise (Engels et al 2003;Kraemer et al 1996;Volek et al 1997;Viru et al 1998). Nonetheless, according to Lac et al (1999), the rise in cortisol level will appear only after a minimal delay of 20 min.…”

Effects of chronic intensive training on androgenic and cortisol profiles in premenarchal female gymnasts

“…Most of these studies were made using peripubertal boys as subjects (Fahey et al 1979;Tsai et al 1991;Vervoorn et al 1992) and there were many discrepancies in their results. Little information is available concerning the effects of exercise and training on the excretion rate of androgens and cortisol in peripubertal girls (Jarheis et al 1991;Viru et al 1998;Jurisckay and Mezey 1994;Peltenburg et al 1984). The studies that have been carried out involved mainly gymnasts and swimmers, and Malina et al (1978) have shown that the activity of the hypophyso-adrenal and hypophyso-gonadal axes might be dependent upon the nature of the sport.…”

“…A limited number of studies has provided some results on the effect of exercise Viru et al 1998) and training (Fahey et al 1979;Tsai et al 1991;Vervoorn et al 1992) on sexual maturation. Most of these studies were made using peripubertal boys as subjects (Fahey et al 1979;Tsai et al 1991;Vervoorn et al 1992) and there were many discrepancies in their results.…”

Comparison of the hormonal responses to exhaustive incremental exercise in adolescent and young adult males

“…For example, Viru and cols. showed that exercise induces increased cortisol responses in adolescents and young adults (2,11,12). These investigators also found a lowering of cortisol levels at rest and with exercise as adolescents move from Tanner Stage 2 to Stage 5 (12).…”