Muscle strain recovery rate
Oxidative stress
Vigorous physical activity and anaerobic metabolism generate a lot of reactive oxygen.
This oxidative stress cause inflammation and metabolic damage which slows down recovery from muscles strain and injury.
Enzymes that neutralizes free radicals are essential in antioxidant defense. Genetic variants in these enzymes determine how well does your body do against oxidative stress.
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How is your response to oxidative stress and what is your recovery rate from muscles strain and injury.
Oxidative damage
As much as it is needed, oxygen is also causing damage to the living cell, forming strong oxidative agents, AKA free radicals.
Vigorous physical activity and anaerobic metabolism generate a lot of reactive oxygen in the active skeletal muscle cells. It leads to depletion in antioxidant defenses, and produces oxidative damage to tissues, enzymes and DNA. This is accompanied by secondary inflammation and metabolic stress which slows down recovery from muscles strain and injury.
Exercise-induced oxidative stress
Exercise-induced oxidative stress is a state that primarily occurs in athletes involved in high-intensity sports when pro-oxidants overwhelm the antioxidant defense system to oxidize proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. During exercise, oxidative stress is linked to muscle metabolism and muscle damage, because exercise increases free radical production.
Gene: SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE 2; SOD2
Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 6:159,679,063-159,762,528
The SOD2 gene encodes the enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), which neutralizes superoxide radicals in the mitochondria.
Genetic variants
The T variant form reduces the antioxidant efficiency against oxidative stress, and is associated with increased values of muscle and liver damage biomarkers. TT genotype is underrepresented in elite athletes involved in high-intensity sports and associated with increased values of muscle and liver damage biomarkers.
The TT genotype showed an increased creatine kinase value after racing suggesting that this genotype is associated with more muscle damage in comparison with the CC genotype.
The C variant allows a more efficient and concentrated SOD2 activity in the mitochondria.
Homozygotes, carriers of two ‘C’ alleles, exhibit high SOD2 activity. This was found associated with improved response to oxidative stress following intense workout.
The prevalence of this genetic set-up is significantly higher among power athletes, hinting that the CC genotype has an advantage in power performance.
The lower levels of oxidative damage predict less tissue damage and inflammation following intense workouts. Athletes with this genotype are at lower risk for strain-associated injury, and expected to recover faster.
The next figure is from a study involved 2664 Caucasian international-level athletes stratified into 7 groups with similar physiological characteristics of the training according to type, intensity, and duration of exercise:
Group I in the analysis pooled all the studies were participants train at low intensity. Group II to IV pool endurance athletes in long, medium and short efforts. Group V pool studies which tested athletes from various sports fields, from basketball to fencing and archers. Group VI pools power athletes like swimmers, runners and speed skaters. Group VII pool weightlifters and gymnasts.
It is evident that the TT genotype is less and less frequent as the effort needed is more concentrated, which implies that TT is less favorable for power performance.
