Abstract

Few studies have examined the acute effects of exercise on serum iron flux. This study aimed to evaluate the acute effect of short-term, high-intense exercise on serum iron and the acute inflammatory protein, alpha1-antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) in trained and untrained men. Blood samples were collected on 5 consecutive days from 17 male physical education students (PE) and 7 male elite athletes (A). Six PE students (non-athletes) were randomly assigned to the experimental group (NA) and 11 to the control group (C). Diet and training were controlled throughout the experimental period. All subjects, except C group, performed one 30 s supramaximal effort on a cycle ergometer at a resistance setting (kp) of 0.092 (NA) or 0.112 (A) x BW (kg) on day 3. The 24-hour post-exercise response for group A was a 29 increase in serum iron and a 9 increase in alpha1-AT. The C group did not show any changes. A brief anaerobic training program (3x20 s supramaximal work on alternate days for 1 wk) did not produce any increase in mean power output or peak blood lactate in the NA group, however, a change was seen in the responses of serum iron (+25) and alpha1-AT remained at baseline value. The correlation between serum iron and alpha1-AT was -0.60 overall. There were no changes in total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) for any of the groups. Thus, there seems to be a biochemical response to high-intense exercise, indicative of an inflammatory process which may be altered by training but is distinct from any existing measures of anaerobic training. Verf.-Ref.