The alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone is related to heart rate during exercise recovery

Dejana Popovic; Bojana Popovic; Stefan Seman; Dragana Labudovic; Ratko Lasica; Djordje G Jakovljevic; Ross Arena; Svetozar S Damjanovic

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05380

The alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone is related to heart rate during exercise recovery

Heliyon. 2020 Nov 6;6(11):e05380. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05380. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Dejana Popovic¹, Bojana Popovic², Stefan Seman³, Dragana Labudovic³, Ratko Lasica¹, Djordje G Jakovljevic^{4

5}, Ross Arena⁶, Svetozar S Damjanovic²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiology, Clinical Center of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Visegradska 26, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
² Divison of Endocrinology, Clinical Center of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Dr Subotica 13, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Faculty of Sports and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Blagoja Parovica 156, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
⁴ Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
⁵ Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Abstract

Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) is a part of the hormonal stress system with proven cardiovascular effects. Heart rate recovery (HRR) following exercise is strongly correlated to overall fitness and future adverse cardiovascular events. The current study examined the predictive value of alpha-MSH for HRR following exercise testing.Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) on a treadmill was used to measure HR and oxygen consumption (V̇O₂) in 16 elite male wrestlers (W), 21 water polo player (WP) and 20 sedentary subjects (C) matched for age. Plasma levels of alpha-MSH were measured by radioimmunoassay technique in four phases of CPET: 1) 10 min pre-CPET at rest; 2) at the initation of CPET; 3) at peak CPET; and 4) at the third minute of recovery. The WP group had significantly higher HRR compared to than W and C groups, who did not have significantly different values. Significant difference in alpha-MSH measurements and patterns during CPET between groups was not observed (p > 0.05). When combining all three groups, we observed a significant correlation between V̇O₂ recovery and alpha-MSH recovery/peak (r = -0.3, p = 0.022). HRR and ΔHRR/peak significantly correlated with alpha-MSH at all four measurment points (r = -0.4; p < 0.01 for all). On multiple regression analysis, which included anthropometric and hormonal measures, the best independent predictor of HRR and ΔHRR/peak was alpha-MSH during recovery (B = -1.0, -0.5; SE = 0.3, 0.1; CI = -1.5 to -0.4, -0.7 to -0.2; p = 0.001 respectively). In conclusion, alpha-MSH measured during exercise recovery holds predictive value for HRR and ΔHRR/peak, suggesting a contributing role to integrative regulation of overall cardiopulmonary performance.

Condensed abstract: Present study examined the predictive value of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) for heart rate recovery (HRR) in elite male wrestlers, water polo players and sedentary subjects matched for age. Alpha-MSH measured during exercise recovery holds predictive value for HRR and ΔHRR/peak, suggesting a contributing role to integrative regulation of overall cardiopulmonary performance.

Keywords: Alpha-MSH; Athletes; Cardiology; Heart rate; Physiology; Recovery of exercise.