Review Oxidative stress and antioxidant status response of handball athletes: Implications for sport training monitoring ☆ Douglas Popp Marin a, ⁎, Anaysa Paola Bolin b , Thais Regina Campoio b , Beatriz Alves Guerra b , Rosemari Otton b a Metodista University of São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo 09640-000, Brazil b Biological Science and Health Sciences, Cruzeiro do Sul University, São Paulo, SP 03342-000, Brazil abstract article info Article history: Received 1 March 2013 Received in revised form 6 July 2013 Accepted 12 July 2013 Available online 31 July 2013 Keywords: Exercise Muscle damage Inflammation Free radicals Sports The chronic exposure to regular exercise training seems to improve antioxidant defense systems. However, the intense physical training imposed on elite athletes may lead to overtraining associated with oxidative stress. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of different training loads and competition on oxidative stress, biochemical parameters and antioxidant enzymatic defense in handball athletes during 6- months of monitoring. Ten male elite handball athletes were recruited to the study. Blood samples were collected four times every six weeks throughout the season. During most intense periods of training and competitions there were significant changes in plasma indices of oxidative stress (increased TBARS and decreased thiols). Conversely, chronic adaptations to exercise training demonstrated a significant protective effect against oxidative stress in erythrocyte (decrease in TBARs and carbonyl group levels). Erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activities were signif- icantly increased, suggesting a training-induced antioxidant adaptation. Biomarkers of skeletal muscle damage were significantly increased during high-intensity training period (creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase). No significant changes were observed in plasma IL-6, TNF-α and uric acid, whereas a significant reduction was found in the IL-1β concentration and gamma-glutamyl transferase activity. Oxidative stress and antioxidant biomarkers can change throughout the season in competitive athletes, reflecting the physical stress and muscle damage that occurs as the result of competitive handball training. In addition, these biochemical measurements can be applied in the physiological follow-up of athletes. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 2. Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 2.1. Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 2.2. Study design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 2.3. Blood collection and handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.4. Preparation of homogenates for measurement of antioxidant enzymes and oxidative damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.5. Oxidative damage (TBARS assay and thiol content) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.6. Erythrocytes enzyme activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.7. Total antioxidant activity (FRAP assay) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.8. Plasma profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.9. Determination of lymphocyte proliferation capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.10. Phagocytic capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.11. Measurement of ROS by dihydroethidium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 2.12. Hydrogen peroxide production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 2.13. Nitric oxide production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 2.14. Plasma cytokine concentrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 2.15. Protein determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 2.16. Statistical analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 International Immunopharmacology 17 (2013) 462–470 ☆ Financial support: FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo). ⁎ Corresponding author at: Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, Av. Regente Feijó, 1295, 03342000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Tel./fax: +55 11 26726200. E-mail address: douglas.marin@metodista.br (D.P. Marin). 1567-5769/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2013.07.009 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Immunopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/intimp