Impact of Type of Sport, Gender and Age on Red Blood Cell Deformability of Elite Athletes

Abstract

RBC deformability is influenced by age and endurance rate of the sport which suggests that the RBC system may adapt to changing conditions such as adolescence with the onset effects of sex hormones or physical exercise.

Ischemic Preconditioning Enhances Performance and Erythrocyte Deformability of Responders

“…During aerobic and anaerobic exercises, the smallest capillaries, which are not opened at rest, need to be passed by RBC during intensive physical activity to cover the elevated oxygen demand [52]. Thus, chronic athletic training leads to higher RBC deformability [58], especially in aerobically well-trained athletes, which illustrates the high importance of high RBC deformability on athletic performance.…”

“…It is known that erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBC) deliver oxygen to the inner organs and the working muscles [41]. Due to the fact that the RBC need to pass the smallest capillaries in the microcirculation with a smaller diameter than RBC themselves, the ability of the RBC to deform is of crucial importance [58]. It was previously shown that high RBC deformability goes along with improved physical performance, especially in aerobic endurance settings [52].…”

Comparisons of Blood Parameters, Red Blood Cell Deformability and Circulating Nitric Oxide Between Males and Females Considering Hormonal Contraception: A Longitudinal Gender Study

“…Reduced deformability levels have been described for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus or sickle cell anemia (Ballas, 1991; Keymel et al, 2011), and reduction in deformability has been associated to microcirculatory disturbances (Lau et al, 1995; Cicco and Pirrelli, 1999; Kameneva et al, 1999). Increased deformability levels have been shown for endurance athletes (Smith et al, 1999; Tomschi et al, 2018a) and associated to improved performance capacity (Koliamitra et al, 2017; Tomschi et al, 2018b). Exercise was thus described to positively affect RBC function in both, health and disease (Mairbäurl, 2013; Ahmad et al, 2014; Brinkmann et al, 2016; Koliamitra et al, 2017).…”

Changes in the quantitative and qualitative indicators of blood in athletes training speed, endurance or strength performance

“…The most important physiological systems that determine body's ability to adapt to physical exercises are the cardiorespiratory system and red blood cells, which provide oxygen transport to tissues [2]. The vast majority of researches have focused on the study of an association between the body physical capabilities and quantitative (erythrocyte number), qualitative indicators (erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin) and the rheological properties of blood depending on the level of physical activity or physical performance [4,8,10,11,16]. Изменения количественных и качественных показателей крови у спортсменов, развивающих качества быстроты, выносливости или силы С. Н. Малахова, В. В. Сыволап, М. С. Потапенко В фокусе большинства исследований было изучение ассоциации возможностей организма с количественными, качественными показателями и реологическими свойствами крови в зависимости от уровня двигательной активности или физической работоспособности.…”