IP: Dr. Carlos Alberto Muniesa Ferrero

Resumen del proyecto: The telomeres are repetitive regions of the DNA (5´-TTAGGn-3´) that are at the end of the chromosomes and, in combination with other proteins, protect the DNA (de Lange T, 2005). The telomere length plays an important role in the genome stabilization (Oh et al., 2001). The lymphocyte telomere length in peripheral blood is related with the cellular aging, independently of the age (Aviv., 2006). Thereby, a shortening of the telomere length indicates a higher biological age. The biological age of a person is different than the chronological age and contributes to the development of several diseases. The telomere shortening is produced by several causes: incomplete mitotic replications, non-repared damage in this regions and the final process of the telomeres (Harley et al., 1990; Shay and Wright, 2005). Besides age, the reduction of the telomere length is associated with cancer (Jeon et al., 2012), Alzheimer´s disease (Thomas et al., 2008), cardiovascular illness and environmental factors (Ludlow and Roth, 2011), like the tobacco consumption (Valdes et al., 2005; Morla et al., 2006). By contrast, other factors such as the physical activity and the prolonged moderate training affects cellular age and reduce the morbidity and mortality (Holloszy, 1988; Blair et al., 1989). Moderate exercise increases the lifespan of mice, decreases the oxidative stress and prevents the degradation of the cytochrome oxidase of the chain electron transfer (Navarro et al., 2004). In addition, it has been demonstrated an increment of the telomere length of individuals with higher levels of moderate physical activity compared with those sedentary with the same age (Ludlow et al., 2008; Werner et al., 2008; Werner et al., 2009). Physical exercise may benefit health. It has been described a huge number of beneficial effects in several process such as the cardiopulmonary and immunological function. However, conversely, it exists a common syndrome in elite athletes called overtraining syndrome (Morgan et al., 1987). It impacts, among others, to the immunity system (Sharp and Koutedakis, 1992; Angeli et al., 2004) and is characterized by a higher susceptibility to infections, chronic fatigue, muscle pain, increased resting heart rate, predisposition to injuries, irritability and depression. Moreover, these individuals have muscular telomere abnormally shortened compared with healthy controls (Collins et al., 2003). Taking into account the above described, we propose to know is the elite sport can affect to the telomere length or, conversely, it is necessary other extreme conditions of training or competition. For this purpose, we will study the telomere length of high level athletes (recruited in the “Consejo Superior de Deportes” of Spain) (n~600) compared with healthy and sedentary controls, through Real Time PCR (PCR-RT) with Syber Green. In the analysis, we will amplify the samples with specific primers of the telomere and specific primers of a acid ribosomal phosphoprotein (36B4) as a gen of single copy. We will develop statistical comparisons by gender, age, type and level of sport.

Entidad financiadora: Universidad Europea de Madrid.