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Expression of tissue remodelling, inflammation- and angiogenesis-related factors after eccentric exercise in humans

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Abstract

Eccentric exercise has been extensively used as a model to study the contraction-induced muscle damage and its consequent processes. This study aimed at examining molecular responses associated with tissue remodelling, inflammation and angiogenesis in skeletal muscle during the recovery period after eccentric exercise in humans. Ten healthy men performed 50 maximal eccentric muscle actions with the knee extensors and muscle biopsies were collected from the vastus lateralis before and 6 h, 48 h and 120 h post eccentric exercise. Real Time-PCR was utilized to investigate alterations in gene expression of various tissue remodelling-, inflammation- and angiogenesis-related factors: uPA, uPA-R, TGF-β1, MMP-9, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, VEGFR-2, HIF-1a, Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2. The uPA/uPA-R system exhibited a similar time-expression pattern increasing 6 h post exercise (p < 0.05), while the other tissue remodelling factors TGF-β1 and MMP-9 did not change significantly over time. Transcriptional responses of inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-8 increased significantly and peaked 6 h post eccentric exercise (p < 0.05), while IL-6 exhibited a similar, though not statistically significant, expression profile (p > 0.05). Similarly, the expression of angiopoietin receptor Tie-2 showed an early increase only at 6 h after the completion of exercise (p < 0.05), while the other angiogenic factors failed to reach statistical significance due a high interindividual variability in the gene expression responses. The early transcriptional upregulation of tissue remodelling, inflammation- and angiogenesis-related factors post eccentric exercise may indicate the acute intramuscular activation of these processes functionally related to muscle damage-induced adaptation.

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Acknowledgements

The invaluable contribution of the study participants to this research is greatly acknowledged.

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The authors received no financial support for this article.

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Author notes

  1. Andrea Tryfonos

    Present address: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

  2. Apostolos Theos

    Present address: Sports Medicine Unit, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umea University, Umeå, Sweden

  3. Antonis Halapas

    Present address: Transcatheter Heart Valves Department, HYGEIA Hospital, Athens, Greece

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 Micras Asias, 115 27, Goudi-Athens, Greece

    Anastassios Philippou, Andrea Tryfonos, Apostolos Theos, Adrianos Nezos, Antonis Halapas & Michael Koutsilieris

  2. Faculty of Physical Education & Sport Science, Department of Sports Medicine & Biology of Physical Activity, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Maria Maridaki

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  1. Anastassios Philippou
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Correspondence to Michael Koutsilieris.

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The Ethics Committee of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens approved the present study and all experimental procedures conformed to the Declaration of Helsinki. A written informed consent was obtained from all the participants.

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Philippou, A., Tryfonos, A., Theos, A. et al. Expression of tissue remodelling, inflammation- and angiogenesis-related factors after eccentric exercise in humans. Mol Biol Rep 48, 4047–4054 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06412-y

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