Abstract
Background
Regular physical activities have a positive effect on the muscular skeletal system but overstrenuous exercise may be different. Transiently suppressed bone formation and increased bone resorption after participation in a 246-km ultradistance race has been demonstrated.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to analyze effects of the Spartathlon race on novel musculoskeletal markers.
Methods
Venous blood samples were obtained before and immediately after the race from 19 participants of the Spartathlon. From 9 runners who were available 3 days after the start blood was drawn for a third time. Serum levels of myostatin, an inhibitor of myogenic differentiation, and its opponent follistatin as well as sclerostin and dickkopf-1, both of them inhibitors of the wnt signaling pathway, and markers of bone turnover were determined.
Results
Serum levels of myostatin were significantly higher after the race. Serum follistatin only showed a transient increase. Sclerostin levels did not significantly differ before and after the race, whereas dickkopf-1 levels were significantly decreased. At follow-up a decrement of sclerostin and dickkopf-1 levels was seen. Serum cathepsin K levels did not change.
Conclusion
The increase of serum levels of myostatin appears to reflect muscle catabolic processes induced by overstrenuous exercise. After the short-term uncoupling of bone turnover participation in an ultradistance race seems to initiate a long-term positive effect on bone indicated by the low-level inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Citation: Kerschan-Schindl K, Thalmann MM, Weiss E, Tsironi M, Föger-Samwald U, Meinhart J, et al. (2015) Changes in Serum Levels of Myokines and Wnt-Antagonists after an Ultramarathon Race. PLoS ONE 10(7):
e0132478.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132478
Editor: Andrew Philp, University of Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
Received: March 18, 2015; Accepted: June 15, 2015; Published: July 6, 2015
Copyright: © 2015 Kerschan-Schindl et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: This work was supported by the following grants: Austrian Society of Rheumatology and Rheumatic Diseases and the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Cardiovascular Surgical Research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Description
The study investigates serum myokines and Wnt-antagonists after an ultramarathon.