The effect of whole-body cryostimulation on the activity of lysosomal enzymes in kayaker women after intense exercise Celestyna Mila-Kierzenkowska a,n , Alina Woz ´ niak a , Tomasz Boraczyn ´ ski b , Alicja Jurecka a , Beata Augustyn ´ ska c , Bartosz Woz ´ niak d a The Chair of Medical Biology, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Karlowicza 24, 85-094 Bydgoszcz, Poland b Central Research Laboratory, Jo ´zef Rusiecki Olsztyn University, ul. Bydgoska 33, 10-243 Olsztyn, Poland c Department of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Kurpinskiego 19, 85-094 Bydgoszcz, Poland d Department of Neurosurgery, Stanislaw Staszic Specialist Hospital, ul. Rydygiera 1, 64-920 Pi!a, Poland article info Article history: Received 9 June 2010 Accepted 5 October 2010 Keywords: Extreme low temperatures Arylsulphatase Acid phosphatase Cathepsin D a 1 -Antitrypsin Hormesis abstract In this study higher activity of certain lysosomal enzymes with concomitant lower a 1 -antitryspin activity was revealed in serum of kayaker women after intense exercise without any external stimuli as compared with the exercise preceded by extreme cold application. Whole-body cryostimulation may have hormetic, beneficial impact on reduction of muscle damage. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In professional sport the procedures of the optimization and personalization of training conditions are very common. All of those modalities are aimed to protect the organism of sportsman against any stressor agents that may occur during the exercise. In this context a modern training may lead to the deficiency of natural factors that stimulate the organism, such as thermal stimuli. Therefore the sports medicine searches for the methods to prevent the negative effects of natural stimuli deficiency. Such a procedure seems to be the whole-body cryostimulation (WBC), which is defined as a short-term exposure of whole organism to extreme cold in a special temperature-controlled chamber (Banfi et al., 2009). WBC per se is known to be a stressor agent for organism and among others it induces oxidative stress (Woz ´niak et al., 2007). Thus, according to the hormetic theory, brief application of whole- body cryostimulation may make the organism adapted to different stressor agents, like intense exercise (Mila-Kierzenkowska et al., 2009). Such adaptation leads to an improved ability to resist the negative effects of training including the damage of muscle fibres. An intense exercise is widely known to cause the imbalance of organism homeostasis. Among many factors that may affect the cellular homeostasis, the alterations in the lysosomes seem to be of great importance (Schott and Terjung, 1979). Lysosomes are the organelles that contain lots of hydrolases, which are the enzymes responsible for breaking down complex chemicals within a cell, which have expended their useful life therefore they play a crucial role in cellular repair from the injury (Bakon ´ ska-Pacon ´ et al., 2005). The acute exercise may be a reason of an increased lability of lysosomal membranes and the release of lysosomal hydrolases into the cytoplasm, extracellular matrix and then into the blood system (Woz ´ niak et al., 2007). The best known protease occurring within the lysosomes is cathepsin D (CTSD), which is the enzyme that catalyze the reaction of proteolysis of extra- and intracellular proteins (Tsukuba et al., 2000). It also participates in apoptosis induced by oxidative stress (Kagedal et al., 2001). The other lysosomal enzymes are also acid phosphatase (AcP), which is a biochemical marker of lysosomes damage (Gregoraszczuk and Sadowska, 1997) and arylsulphatase (ASA) used for the evaluation of the level of muscle fatigue (Bakon ´ ska-Pacon ´ et al., 2005). The physical exercise of long duration and/or high intensity is also reported to induce the acute phase response. This phenom- enon is a generalized systemic response that protects the body and helps to restore the homeostasis and it includes a wide range of pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins (Semple et al., 2006). One of the anti-inflammatory compounds of the acute phase response is a 1 -antitrypsin—AAT (Semple et al., 2006). This protein is a serine proteinase inhibitor (Zhang et al., 1993) that has the ability to inhibit certain proteinases, including some of lysosomal hydrolases Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtherbio Journal of Thermal Biology 0306-4565/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2010.10.001 n Corresponding author. Tel.: + 48 52 585 3737; fax: + 48 52 585 3742. E-mail address: celestyna@o2.pl (C. Mila-Kierzenkowska). Journal of Thermal Biology 36 (2011) 29–33