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The study has evaluated the effect of sauna treatments on the blood serum of professional cross-country skiers (3 women and 6 men) during two exercise sessions: the first without any treatments and the second after ten sauna treatments. Aqueous solutions of serum samples from the blood of athletes collected in four stages in both exercise sessions: at rest, after exercise, after 1 h and 24 h rest and additionally only at rest after the first sauna treatment, were measured by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC results allowed to register characteristic post-exercise changes in the profile of thermal denaturation transition of serum. A trend of these changes was similar regardless of the use of sauna, but their intensity was stronger in the exercise session after the sauna treatments. In particular, the differences relating to the use of sauna have revealed in the higher temperature range of serum denaturation transition. Regarding the recovery process after exercises, a large individual variability was observed in both sessions.

In sport medicine, cryostimulation is used to help athletes to better support the training workload, to prevent the deleterious effects of strenuous exercise and to improve recovery. In this study, eight elite cross-country skiers had two experimental exercise sessions differing in that the second one was carried out after a series of 10 whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) treatments. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was applied to compare changes in athlete’s blood serum during both sessions. Mean DSC curves of serum collected in four stages of the training session: before exercise, after exercise, at 1 h recovery and after 24 h of rest have shown a similar nature of post-exercise changes and recovery regardless of the WBC. Statistically significant effect of the exercise, reflected in some parameters of serum denaturation transition, has been found. Too small number of participants in our study did not allow to verify the hypothesis that WBC favorably modifies athletes’ reaction to the effort and improves post-exercise recovery, but such trends emerged.

Blood plasma and serum are important diagnostic materials as they clearly reflect an individual’s metabolism. The study has evaluated the effect of whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) on the blood serum of professional cross-country skiers. The experiment involved eight athletes (two women and six men) who underwent a series of ten WBC treatments. Aqueous solutions of human blood serum samples before WBC procedures, after one treatment and after a series of ten treatments were measured by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a relatively novel diagnostic tool. DSC results showed rather little impact of cryostimulation on heat capacity changes accompanying the process of thermal denaturation of blood serum proteins in elite athletes. However, the statistically significant reduction in the intensity of the serum denaturation transition in its low temperature range has been observed after ten WBC treatments. The results have been interpreted by changes in the serum proteome profile, notably in the ratio of ligated to unligated albumin molecules. As a side result, the relationships between the relative change in body fat mass after ten WBC treatments and the levels of alpha2-globulins and beta2-globulins fractions have been found.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids abuse is on the rise among adolescent boys and young men, mostly in those seeking a ‘shortcut’ to an improved body image. This approach is associated with the risk of severe adverse health effects, some of which involve the liver and are linked to hepatic oxidative stress. Testosterone and its esters is a cornerstone of most anabolic-androgenic steroid stacking protocols. We assessed and compared several hepatotoxicity and liver oxidative stress indices, as well as the contents of some components of the hepatic antioxidant barrier between sedentary adolescent male rats given a 6-week course of weekly im testosterone enanthate (TE, 8 or 80 mg/kgBW /week) or vehicle (sesame oil) injections. Blood and livers for the assessments were harvested seven days after the last injection. TE supplementation dose-dependently elevated blood testosterone and significantly increased the liver content of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. Only the high-dose TE supplementation significantly slowed down body weight gain, reduced the liver weight/body weight ratio, increased liver heat shock protein 70/72 content and elevated blood enzyme markers of liver stress. There was no significant difference in reduced glutathione and α- or γ-tocopherol content between the TE-treated and control rats. Of the antioxidant enzymes studied (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase), only the dismutase activity was significantly while moderately elevated and only by the high-dose TE supplementation. (Sub)chronic supplementation of sedentary adolescent male rats with high TE doses does not exert a lasting major effect on the liver antioxidant barrier and redox homeostasis.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used for the detection of post-exercise changes in blood serum resulting from participation in the CrossFit (CF) training combined with green tea extract (GTE) supplementation. Blood samples from 20 well-trained men were collected at rest, immediately post-exercise and after 1 h of recovery in two trials: first before and second after CF training combined with GTE or placebo administration in the supplemented (S) and control (C) groups, respectively. Selected muscle damage biomarkers have been compared in different phases of the experiment. A significant increase in blood lactate content has been observed post-exercise in both trials in both participants’ groups. The opposite trends have been noted for the C and S groups in creatine kinase (CK) activity changes recorded during the first to the second trial: an increase in CK for the control and a decrease for the supplemented group in all phases of the experiment: pre-exercise, post-exercise and after recovery. In the second trial, all CK values for the S group have been found significantly lower than the corresponding values recorded in the C group. These results suggest a mitigate effect of GTE supplementation on post-training muscle damage. DSC results did not reveal clear effects of training nor GTE supplementation on serum denaturation transition. However, interesting dependences of thermodynamic parameters describing this transition have been observed in different phases of the experiment. Statistically significant negative correlations have been found between post-training VO2max and post-exercise thermodynamic parameters associated with haptoglobin contribution to serum denaturation transition.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) provides a unique temperature-induced denaturation profile of the mixture of component proteins in the serum. This profile depends on a health status of serum donor, physicochemical properties of serum solution samples, and many experimental factors. Whether an exposure of serum sample to neutron radiation leads to changes in serum DSC profile has been checked in this study. The results indicate that immediately after the experiment, the differences between DSC serum profiles for irradiated and control samples are not significant. However, the distinct differences in the thermal unfolding of proteins present in the irradiated and control serum have been observed after 2 or 3 weeks of the storage of serum samples at about 4 °C. These differences have been found more pronounced at the dose of 5 Gy than at 0.5 Gy.

A cross-sectional study with comparison group. To evaluate the effects of long-term wheelchair rugby (WR) training on lipid profile, blood antioxidant status and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level. Academy of Physical Education, Katowice, Poland. Thirty-two males with chronic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) assigned into the physically active ‘low-point’ (LP, n=15) or ‘high-point’ (HP, n=8) WR players groups and the sedentary manual wheelchair users (SED, n=9) participated in this study. Fasting blood samples were collected at rest for assessment of activities of antioxidant enzymes, concentrations of reduced glutathione, uric acid, malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid profile measures and BDNF. No significant differences were found in anthropometric measures and serum lipid profile indices, although a slight tendency toward higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was evidenced in WR players. Significantly lower serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and significantly higher levels of the overall enzymatic antioxidant potential index (EAP) in WR players, compared with SED, may reflect some WR training-induced increase in the blood’s antioxidant capacity. There was also a slight tendency toward higher serum BDNF level in WR players compared with the SED group and a significant positive association between years of WR training and the BDNF level. A voluntary participation in a long-term WR training program has several health promoting outcomes for individuals with chronic SCI. Among the most important are enhancement of the blood antioxidant defense capacity evidenced by lower MDA and higher EAP levels, as well as WR training-induced activation of BDNF signaling.

This study was aimed at evaluation of changes in activities of selected antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase) and contents of key nonenzymatic antioxidants (glutathione, protein thiol groups, and α- and γ-tocopherols) in the left heart ventricle of young male Wistar rats subjected to endurance training (treadmill running, 1 h daily, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks) or/and testosterone propionate treatment (8 or 80 mg/kg body weight, intramuscularly, once a week, for 6 weeks) during adolescence. The training alone increased the activities of key antioxidant enzymes, but lowered the pool of nonenzymatic antioxidants and enhanced myocardial oxidative stress as evidenced by elevation of the lipid peroxidation biomarker malondialdehyde. The lower-dose testosterone treatment showed mixed effects on the individual components of the antioxidant defense system, but markedly enhanced lipid peroxidation. The higher-dose testosterone treatment decreased the activities of the antioxidant enzymes, lowered the contents of the nonenzymatic antioxidants, except for that of γ-tocopherol, reversed the effect of endurance training on the antioxidant enzymes activities, and enhanced lipid peroxidation more than the lower-dose treatment. These data demonstrate the potential risk to cardiac health from exogenous androgen use, either alone or in combination with endurance training, in adolescents.