We developed a research approach based on the analysis of muscular biopsies and non-invasive monitoring of contractile properties and muscular composition on the population of master athletes and non-athletes. On a large sample of 706 subjects (35-100 years) which we sampled at three world athletics championships (master athletes) and three international projects (non-athletes), we found that muscular abilities declined, but with different dynamics in different populations and different muscles. The most severe decline is aerobic athletes after 65 years. The reasons for which we will continue to study.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1540255172
We have studied benefits of recreational football on various health parameters. Those were compared to more traditonal recreational activites. Using a systematic review and meta-analysis we evaluate the magnitude of effects of recreational football on blood pressure, body composition, lipid profile and muscular fitness with reference to age, gender and health status. Based on 31 papers that met the inclusion criteria we found the effect of recreational football on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure extremely large. Furthermore, a most likely extremely large beneficial effect was shown for blood pressure in participants with mild hypertension and prehypertension. Effects were also on resting heart rate, fat mass, whole body explosive power, low-density lipoprotein levels. When comparing to runnning groups a largely beneficial effect was observed for dyastolic blood pressure but not clear for systolic blood pressure, as well as for fat and lean body mass, body mass index, and muscular fitness. The presented results demonstrated multiple broad-spectrum benefits of recreational football on health-related physical fitness compared with no-exercise controls, including improvements in blood pressure, resting heart rate, fat mass, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and explosive power. Additionally, recreational football is efficient and effective as Zumba and continuous running exercise regimens with highlighted social, motivational and competitive components.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1540134340
Skeletal muscle is a key tissue in human aging, which affects different muscle fiber types unequally. We developed a highly sensitive single muscle fiber proteomics workflow to study human aging and show that the senescence of slow and fast muscle fibers is characterized by diverging metabolic and protein quality control adaptations. Whereas mitochondrial content declines with aging in both fiber types, glycolysis and glycogen metabolism are upregulated in slow but downregulated in fast muscle fibers. Aging mitochondria decrease expression of the redox enzyme monoamine oxidase A. Slow fibers upregulate a subset of actin and myosin chaperones, whereas an opposite change happens in fast fibers. These changes in metabolism and sarcomere quality control may be related to the ability of slow, but not fast, muscle fibers to maintain their mass during aging. We conclude that single muscle fiber analysis by proteomics can elucidate pathophysiology in a sub-type-specific manner.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1539880900
Aging and experimental bed rest are associated with muscle atrophy and resistance to post-prandial stimulation of protein synthesis or anabolic resistance (AR). We have used in young and older adult volunteers, during short-term bed rest, a quick and non-invasive method, based on a single oral bolus of the stable isotope to determine post-prandial AR. We compared in older (O, 59 ± 1 y) and young (Y, 23 ± 1 y) healthy male volunteers the effects of two-week bed rest on post-prandial protein kinetics, quadriceps muscle volume (QMV) was determined by magnetic resonance imaging. At baseline, in pooled Y and O subjects, values of AR were inversely correlated with QMV. Following 2-weeks of inactivity, there were significant bed rest effects on AR and QMV, as well as significant bed rest × group interaction for AR. Bed rest-induced AR is much greater in the older than in younger adults. We have developed a new, simple, non-invasive method for the assessment of AR. The results indicate that this metabolic abnormality is a key mechanism for sarcopenia of aging and inactivity.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1538961604
Acute stress, as bed rest, was shown to increase plasma level of the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in older, but not in young adults. This increase might represent a protective mechanism towards acute insults in aging subjects. Since computerized cognitive training (CCT) is known to protect brain, herein we evaluated the effect of CCT during bed rest on BDNF, muscle mass, neuromuscular function and metabolic parameters. The subjects that underwent CCT did not show an increase of BDNF after bed rest, and showed an anti-insular modification pattern in metabolism. Neuromuscular function parameters, already shown to beneficiate from CCT, negatively correlated with BDNF in research participants undergoing CCT, while positively correlated in the control group. In conclusion, BDNF increase can be interpreted as a standardized protective mechanism taking place whenever an insult occurs; it gives low, but consistent preservation of neuromuscular function. CCT, acting as an external protective mechanism, seems to modify this standardized response, avoiding BDNF increase or possibly modifying its time course. Our results suggest the possibility of differential neuroprotective mechanisms among ill and healthy individuals, and the importance of timing in determining the effects of protective mechanisms.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1539107524