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Int J Sports Med 1991; 12(2): 218-222
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1024671
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Influence of Aging, Training and Acute Physical Exercise on Plasma Glutathione and Lipid Peroxides in Man*

M. Kretzschmar1 , D. Müller1 , J. Hübscher2 , E. Marin3 , W. Klinger1
  • 1Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology
  • 2Department of Sports Medicine of the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany
  • 3Department of Physiology of the University of Kuopio, Finland
* Presented in part on XXXI International Congress of Physiological Sciences, Helsinki, 9-14 July, 1989.This investigation was supported by the Finnish Education Ministry Grant 9329/78/86U and by the Grant of Yrj Jahnsson Foundation.
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Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

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Abstract

In trained (long-distance runners) and untrained volunteers aged 22 to 57 years, basal plasma glutathione (GSH) concentration decreased significantly with increasing age. In most age groups basal GSH concentration of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and lipid peroxides (LPO) was not influenced either by age or by training. Following acute physical exercise (bicycle ergometric test), which was maximal for each person and thus different in trained and untrained persons, plasma GSH, GSSG, and LPO concentrations were not changed at all in untrained volunteers. In trained persons, however, GSH concentration was significantly decreased by about 30%. Surprisingly, we observed a decrease in plasma LPO content by about 40%. GSSG content was not altered. The comparison with some physical-physiological parameters indicates that the changes in GSH and LPO concentrations depend on the extent of acute physical exercise rather than on previous training. Alterations of GSH and LPO in plasma could be of physiologic significance.

Key words

Age - exercise - glutathione - lipid peroxides - man - plasma - training