Ironmen Face Test of Mettle
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 3, No. 5
14 July - 10 August 2008 ] By Nerissa Hannink
Training programs for Olympians, triathletes and other elite sports people are set to reach new levels of precision helped by a University of Melbourne pilot study of 2007 Hawaii Ironman triathlon urine samples. The study uses the new science of metabolomics to analyse and profile metabolites produced in cells from metabolic reactions, providing a ‘snapshot’ of the cells’ metabolic state.
The unique nature of cellular metabolism means the metabolite profiles can be used as indicators or ‘biomarkers’ of cell condition. They can indicate disease abnormalities such as cancer and determine responses to environmental effects or drugs, enabling individualised patient treatment.
“Metabolic breakdown of compounds in cells happens every day – it is vital for recycling certain essential materials – but during intense training this happens at a much higher rate,” says researcher Professor Mark Hargreaves, of the University’s Department of Physiology.
“Chronic fatigue associated with vigorous training – known as overtraining syndrome – is difficult to predict and leads to reduced exercise performance. There’s interest in potential biomarkers that can be used to diagnose the development of fatigue before the onset of this syndrome.”
Potential biomarkers include plasma hormone measurements (such as testosterone, cortisol, catecholamines), plasma levels of muscle enzymes as markers of muscle damage, salivary immunoglobulins, resting heart rate and body mass.
“By knowing what is going on at the cellular level, we could use metabolomics to personalise training for optimal performance,” adds Professor Hargreaves.
The study, based at the Melbourne hub of Metabolomics Australia involves leading metabolomics scientists Professor Malcolm McConville and Professor Dick Wettenhall from the Bio21 Institute.
Metabolomics Australia is a new $9.5 million National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Centre which provides a state-of the-art metabolomics service to Australian researchers in academia and industry.
Professor McConville says metabolomics has emerged as the newest member of a family of sciences which includes genomics (the study of genes) and proteomics (the study of proteins) to analyse metabolites – the end-products of gene expression. “Metabolic reactions include the production of energy, and the manufacture and breakdown of molecules in cells,” he says. “We can examine metabolites from an individual cell, tissues, fluids, organs and the entire organism.”
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