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Associations between sensorimotor gating mechanisms and athletic performance in a variety of physical conditioning tests

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The elite athlete is fine-tuned all around to deliver favorable results in sporting events. In this study, we address the question of whether basic movements—such as reflexes—and heterogeneous attentional modulation components—such as sensorimotor gating mechanisms—are also tuned up to maximize the results of middle-distance runners in physical conditioning tests.

Methods

We selected an array of professional middle-distance runners and healthy counterparts that were submitted to measurement of (1) physical conditioning parameters, including somatotype, jump, strength, and flexibility tests; and (2) sensorimotor gating mechanisms, including acoustic startle reflex, prepulse inhibition, and habituation.

Results

Our results showed athletes scored better on the athletic tests compared to controls, as expected. They also exhibited a lower startle amplitude, while maintaining higher prepulse inhibition values. They reacted faster to the acoustic stimuli, and sex-related differences—found in controls—were not present in athletes. Our data also pointed out to substantial correlations between sensorimotor gating and physical conditioning parameters.

Conclusions

All in all, these data may point to physical conditioning-driven neural plasticity of brain sensorimotor gating circuits in charge of triggering involuntary movements to harness control and efficiency over reflexed muscle activity.

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Abbreviations

ASR:

Acoustic startle reflex

BMI:

Body mass index

CMJ:

Counter-movement jump

DJ:

Drop jump

EMG:

Electromyography

PPI:

Prepulse inhibition

SJ:

Squat jump

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express gratitude to Laboratory 2 of the INCYL, especially Ana Alves and Peter Johannesen for helping with the calibration of the startle sound source; Juan Carro for assistance with bio-statistics; and Kristiina M. Hormigo for language editing services.

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, MICINN # BFU2010-17754. The funders did not take part in this study whatsoever.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sebastian Hormigo

    Present address: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Neuroscience of Castilla y Leon (INCYL), University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Sebastian Hormigo, Antonio Cardoso, Consuelo Sancho, Dolores E. López & Carlos Moreno

  2. Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Antonio Cardoso, Consuelo Sancho & Dolores E. López

  3. Department of Nursing and Physical Therapy, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Antonio Cardoso & Carlos Moreno

  4. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Consuelo Sancho

  5. Department of Cell Biology and Pathology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Dolores E. López

  6. Area de Fisioterapia E.U. DE ENFERMERÍA Y FISIOTERAPIA, Calle del Donante de Sangre, s/n Campus Universitario “Miguel de Unamuno”, 37007, Salamanca, Spain

    Carlos Moreno

Authors
  1. Sebastian Hormigo
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Contributions

SH and CM conceived and designed research. SH and AC conducted experiments. CS contributed new reagents or analytical tools. SH, DEL, and CM analyzed data. SH wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Sebastian Hormigo or Carlos Moreno.

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The authors declare no competing conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

Additional information

Communicated by Toshio Moritani.

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Hormigo, S., Cardoso, A., Sancho, C. et al. Associations between sensorimotor gating mechanisms and athletic performance in a variety of physical conditioning tests. Eur J Appl Physiol 119, 921–932 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04081-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04081-1

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