Chatzinikolaou Panagiotis N, Margaritelis Nikos V, Paschalis Vassilis, Theodorou Anastasios A, Moushi Eleni, Vrabas Ioannis S, Kyparos Antonios, Fatouros Ioannis G, D'Alessandro Angelo, Nikolaidis Michalis G
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science at Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Serres, Greece.
School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Sports Med. 2025 Jul 28. doi: 10.1007/s40279-025-02279-2.
Erythrocytes are traditionally considered passive oxygen carriers, yet their energetic and redox metabolism plays a critical role in regulating oxygen kinetics.
This study integrates experimental and computational data to provide a comprehensive analysis of erythrocyte metabolism in response to exercise-induced oxidative stress.
The study consisted of three phases: in vivo, ex vivo, and computational. A total of 20 male participants underwent a randomized crossover experiment with two conditions: oxidative stress (eccentric contractions) and control. Oxidative stress was induced via leg eccentric contractions, and its effects on erythrocyte glycolytic and redox metabolism, arm muscle oxygenation, and arm exercise performance were evaluated. The study protocol was preregistered on the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/ub6zs ).
Eccentric contractions altered oxidative stress markers in erythrocytes (+ 22% F-isoprostanes, + 28% protein carbonyls, - 20% glutathione). Oxidative stress increased erythrocyte glycolytic flux by + 53%, while arm exercise further increased glycolytic flux in both control (+ 200%) and oxidative stress (+ 86%) conditions. Exogenous hydrogen peroxide administration reduced glycolytic flux by - 48%. Stoichiometric analysis revealed that during acute exercise, erythrocytes produced 14.9% less ATP, NADPH, and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate than their theoretical maximum, at the critical bioenergetic point. Oxidative stress decreased arm deoxygenated hemoglobin by - 7.4% during arm exercise and VOpeak by - 4% during arm exercise.
In a comprehensive exercise study investigating mechanistic relationships in erythrocyte biology, we show that erythrocyte metabolism (1) responds dynamically to exercise, (2) becomes dysregulated under oxidative stress, and (3) may partly influence muscle oxygenation and performance.
红细胞传统上被认为是被动的氧载体，但其能量代谢和氧化还原代谢在调节氧动力学方面起着关键作用。
本研究整合实验和计算数据，以全面分析红细胞代谢对运动诱导的氧化应激的反应。
该研究包括三个阶段：体内、体外和计算阶段。共有20名男性参与者进行了一项随机交叉实验，有两种条件：氧化应激（离心收缩）和对照。通过腿部离心收缩诱导氧化应激，并评估其对红细胞糖酵解和氧化还原代谢、手臂肌肉氧合和手臂运动表现的影响。研究方案已在开放科学框架（https://osf.io/ub6zs）上预先注册。
离心收缩改变了红细胞中的氧化应激标志物（F-异前列腺素增加22%，蛋白质羰基增加28%，谷胱甘肽减少20%）。氧化应激使红细胞糖酵解通量增加了53%，而手臂运动在对照（增加200%）和氧化应激（增加86%）条件下进一步增加了糖酵解通量。外源性过氧化氢给药使糖酵解通量降低了48%。化学计量分析表明，在急性运动期间，在关键的生物能量点，红细胞产生的三磷酸腺苷（ATP）、还原型辅酶II（NADPH）和2,3-二磷酸甘油酸比其理论最大值少14.9%。氧化应激在手臂运动期间使手臂脱氧血红蛋白降低了7.4%，在手臂运动期间使峰值摄氧量（VOpeak）降低了4%。
在一项全面的运动研究中，研究红细胞生物学中的机制关系，我们表明红细胞代谢（1）对运动有动态反应，（2）在氧化应激下失调，（3）可能部分影响肌肉氧合和表现。
