Functional and biochemical adaptations of elite level futsal players from Brazil along a training season.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Although hard training is mandatory in elite level futsal training, few studies have proposed a biochemical follow up in futsal players during a whole season. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare functional and biochemical markers in Brazilian elite level futsal players throughout a competition season. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight players aged 25.5±5.4 years were evaluated at three time points: preseason (T1), immediately before the FIFA®-Intercontinental-Futsal-Cup (T2), and at the end of the season (T3), with a tapering period of 1 week before T2. Functional parameters (weight, height, body fat, VO2max, heart rate, and distance ran) and blood sampling for cell count and lipid profile (cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides) were assessed at each time point. After, a Yo-Yo R2 test was carried out in each time point (T1, T2 and T3) and blood samples to assess skeletal muscle damage (creatine kinase [CK], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]), inflammation (C-reactive protein [CRP]) and oxidative stress markers (ischemia modified albumin [IMA], and advanced oxidation protein products [AOPP]) were obtained before and after the tests. RESULTS: Although functional parameters did not change throughout the season, greater total number of erythrocytes (P≤0.05), and hemoglobin (P≤0.05) were found at T2 compared to T1. Similarly, lower LDH (P≤0.05) and CK (P≤0.05) levels were found at T2 compared to T1. CPR levels were also decreased at T2 in comparison to T1 both before and after Yo-Yo R2 test (P≤0.05), while IMA and AOPP levels showed only a season effect (P≤0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The tapering strategy was successful considering players presented lower levels of muscle damage, inflammation and oxidative stress makers before T2, which preceded the main championship of the year. These results are of great relevance, considering the team won the FIFA®-Intercontinental-Futsal-Cup, which happened at T2. Thus, it seems that routine-based biochemical markers may be useful as training control means in this population.

Urinary inflammatory cytokines as indicators of kidney damage in type 2 diabetic patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether urinary levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) are altered in normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and whether these cytokines are able to identify diabetic kidney disease (DKD) among these patients. METHODS: This study included 125 T2DM patients classified into 3 groups according to urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (uACR): uACR <10mg/g creatinine, uACR 10-30mg/g creatinine and uACR >30mg/g creatinine. Urinary inflammatory cytokines were measured. RESULTS: The urinary IL-6 concentrations increased from uACR <10 (97.2±26.4pg/ml) to uACR 10-30 (113.6±28.0pg/ml) and to uACR >30mg/g creatinine (163.5±25.6pg/ml) (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively) patients. The urinary IL-10 concentrations decreased in these uACR ranges [100.0 (58.0-141.0) pg/ml vs. 62.0 (54.5-71.5) pg/ml vs. 42.0 (32.0-48.0) pg/ml] (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). All urinary cytokines demonstrated good ability to identify DKD (areas under curves >0.9). CONCLUSIONS: Urinary inflammatory cytokines, especially IL-6 and IL-10, may assist in the identification of DKD in T2DM patients, even in the absence of micro- and macroalbuminuria.

In Vitro Oxidation of Collagen Promotes the Formation of Advanced Oxidation Protein Products and the Activation of Human Neutrophils.

The accumulation of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) has been linked to several pathological conditions. Here, we investigated collagen as a potential source for AOPP formation and determined the effects of hypochlorous acid (HOCl)-treated collagen (collagen-AOPPs) on human neutrophil activity. We also assessed whether alpha-tocopherol could counteract these effects. Exposure to HOCl increased the levels of collagen-AOPPs. Collagen-AOPPs also stimulated the production of AOPPs, nitric oxide (NO), superoxide radicals (O2(-)), and HOCl by neutrophils. Collagen-AOPPs induced apoptosis and decreased the number of viable cells. Alpha-tocopherol prevented the formation of collagen-AOPPs, strongly inhibited the collagen-AOPP-induced production of O2(-) and HOCl, and increased the viability of neutrophils. Our results suggest that collagen is an important protein that interacts with HOCl to form AOPPs, and consequently, collagen-AOPP formation is related to human neutrophil activation and cell death.

Genoprotective and hepatoprotective effects of Guarana (Paullinia cupana Mart. var. sorbilis) on CCl4-induced liver damage in rats.

CONTEXT: Several biological effects of Paullinia cupana (guarana) have been demonstrated, but little information is available on its effects on the liver. OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective and genoprotective effects of powder seeds from guarana on CCl4-induced liver injury in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Wistar rats were pretreated with guarana powder (100, 300 and 600 mg/kg) or silymarin 100 mg/kg daily for 14 days before treatment with a single dose of CCl4 (50% CCl4, 1 mL/kg, intraperitoneally). RESULTS: The treatment with CCl4 significantly increased the serum activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). In addition, CCl4 increased the DNA damage index in hepatocytes. Guarana in all concentrations was effective in decreasing the ALT and AST activities when compared with the CCl4-treated group. The treatment with guarana decreased DNA damage index when compared with the CCl4-treated group. In addition, the DNA damage index showed a significant positive correlation with AST and ALT. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the guarana has hepatoprotective activity and prevents the DNA strand breakage in the CCl4-induced liver damage in rats.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and N-acetylcysteine attenuate the formation of advanced oxidation protein products, a new class of inflammatory mediators, in vitro.

The accumulation of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) has been linked to several pathological conditions. Previous studies have identified AOPP as a novel biomarker of oxidative damage to proteins and a novel class of mediator of inflammation. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as well as the synergistic effect of both treatments on the formation of AOPP in vitro. For this purpose, we incubated the human serum albumin (HSA) with various hypochlorous acid (HOCl) concentrations to produce albumin-advanced oxidation protein products (HSA-AOPP). Both FBP and NAC were capable of inhibiting the formation of HOCl-induced AOPP in a concentration-dependent manner. The synergistic effect promoted by the association of these drugs showed to be more effective than when tested alone. Thus, both FBP and NAC may be good candidates to mitigate and neutralize pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant effects of AOPP in several diseases.

Ischemia modified albumin and carbonyl protein as potential biomarkers of protein oxidation in hemodialysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of HD on ischemia modified albumin (IMA) and protein carbonyl groups in order to investigate the role of IMA as a marker of protein oxidation. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was conducted with 23 chronic hemodialysis patients. The serum IMA levels and protein carbonyl groups were measured immediately before hemodialysis (pre-HD) and after the end of hemodialysis (post-HD). RESULTS: IMA concentrations were significantly higher in post-HD than those of the pre-HD and carbonyl protein concentrations were higher in post-HD in comparison with pre-HD. A significant correlation was observed between IMA and carbonyl protein levels. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of IMA levels and protein carbonyl groups post-HD could be attributed to the increase of oxidative stress associated with HD, and IMA appears to be an important biomarker for assessing protein oxidation after HD.