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Life-long endurance running is associated with reduced glycation and mechanical stress in connective tissue

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Abstract

Life-long regular endurance exercise is known to counteract the deterioration of cardiovascular and metabolic function and overall mortality. Yet it remains unknown if life-long regular endurance exercise can influence the connective tissue accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) that is associated with aging and lifestyle-related diseases. We therefore examined two groups of healthy elderly men: 15 master athletes (64 ± 4 years) who had been engaged in life-long endurance running and 12 old untrained (66 ± 4 years) together with two groups of healthy young men; ten young athletes matched for running distance (26 ± 4 years), and 12 young untrained (24 ± 3 years). AGE cross-links (pentosidine) of the patellar tendon were measured biochemically, and in the skin, it was assessed by a fluorometric method. In addition, we determined mechanical properties and microstructure of the patellar tendon. Life-long regular endurance runners (master athletes) had a 21 % lower AGE cross-link density compared to old untrained. Furthermore, both master athletes and young athletes displayed a thicker patellar tendon. These cross-sectional data suggest that life-long regular endurance running can partly counteract the aging process in connective tissue by reducing age-related accumulation of AGEs. This may not only benefit skin and tendon but also other long-lived protein tissues in the body. Furthermore, it appears that endurance running yields tendon tissue hypertrophy that may serve to lower the stress on the tendon and thereby reduce the risk of injury.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Center for Healthy Aging, the University of Copenhagen, the Danish Physiotherapy Association, and the Danish Medical Research Council. We would like to thank the technical staff (Berith Sørensen and Janus Damm) at the Department of Radiology, Bispebjerg Hospital for helping obtaining the MRI images. Additionally, we thank Christina Eenberg Hansen, Simon Døssing, and Ann Christina R. Reimann for technical assistance. Kaisa-Leena Tulla (Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä) is acknowledged for expert technical assistance in collagen cross-link analyses. DiagnOptics BV, Groningen, the Netherlands enabled us to perform the AGE reader measurements free of charge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital and Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Bldg. 8, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400, Copenhagen, NV, Denmark

    Christian Couppé, René B. Svensson, Rie H. Nielsen, Morten R. Olsen, Dorthe Skovgaard, Mette Hansen, Michael Kjaer & S. Peter Magnusson

  2. Department of Physical Therapy, Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Research Unit, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Christian Couppé & S. Peter Magnusson

  3. CNRS UMR 7338, Biomécanique et Bioingénierie, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, 60205, Compiègne cedex, France

    Jean-Francois Grosset

  4. UFR de Santé, Médecine et Biologie Humaine, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 93017, Bobigny, France

    Jean-Francois Grosset

  5. Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Vuokko Kovanen

  6. Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jytte O. Larsen

  7. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, MOVEFIT- Sports Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Stephan F. E. Praet

  8. Cluster for Molecular Imaging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Dorthe Skovgaard

  9. Section for Sports Science, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Mette Hansen

  10. Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Muscle Research Cluster, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Per Aagaard

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  1. Christian Couppé
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  2. René B. Svensson
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  10. Mette Hansen
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  11. Per Aagaard
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  12. Michael Kjaer
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  13. S. Peter Magnusson
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Correspondence to Christian Couppé.

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Couppé, C., Svensson, R.B., Grosset, JF. et al. Life-long endurance running is associated with reduced glycation and mechanical stress in connective tissue. AGE 36, 9665 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-014-9665-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-014-9665-9

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