Muscle cellular properties in the ice hockey player: a model for investigating overtraining?

Abstract

In this study, we hypothesized that athletes involved in 5–6 months of sprint-type training would display higher levels of proteins and processes involved in muscle energy supply and utilization. Tissue was sampled from the vastus lateralis of 13 elite ice hockey players (peak oxygen consumption = 51.8 ± 1.3 mL·kg–1·min–1; mean ± standard error) at the end of a season (POST) and compared with samples from 8 controls (peak oxygen consumption = 45.5 ± 1.4 mL·kg–1·min–1) (CON). Compared with CON, higher activities were observed in POST (p < 0.05) only for succinic dehydrogenase (3.32 ± 0.16 mol·(mg protein)–1·min–1 vs. 4.10 ± 0.11 mol·(mg protein)–1·min–1) and hexokinase (0.73 ± 0.05 mol·(mg protein)–1·min–1 vs. 0.90 ± 0.05mol·(mg protein)–1·min–1) but not for phosphorylase, phosphofructokinase, and creatine phosphokinase. No differences were found in Na+,K+-ATPase concentration (βmax: 262 ± 36 pmol·(g wet weight)–1 vs. 275 ± 27 pmol·(g wet weight)–1) and the maximal activity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (98.1 ± 6.1 µmol·(g protein)–1·min–1 vs. 102 ± 3.3 µmol·(g protein)–1·min–1). Cross-sectional area was lower (p < 0.05) in POST but only for the type IIA fibres (6312 ± 684 μm2 vs. 5512 ± 335 μm2), while the number of capillary counts per fibre and the capillary to fibre area ratio were generally higher (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that elite trained ice hockey players display elevations only in support of glucose-based aerobic metabolism that occur in the absence of alterations in excitation–contraction processes.