Plasma and salivary hormone responses to a 30‐min exercise stress test in young, healthy, physically active females

Baker, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0057-4838, Piasecki, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9758-6295, Hunt, JA ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5168-4778, Foulds, G and Hough, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6970-5779, 2024. Plasma and salivary hormone responses to a 30‐min exercise stress test in young, healthy, physically active females. Physiological Reports, 12 (24): e70168. ISSN 2051-817X

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Abstract

Overreaching, a consequence of intensified training, is used by athletes to enhance performance. A blunted hormonal response to a 30-min interval exercise stress test (55/80) has been shown in males after intensified training, highlighting cortisol and testosterone as potential biomarkers of overreaching. Despite accounting for ~50% of the population, studies into hormonal responses to exercise in females are lacking. The menstrual cycle and oral contraceptives profoundly affect hormonal responses, necessitating separate investigations into the female response to the same exercise-stress test. On three separate visits, 13 females (6 oral contraceptive users, 7 eumenorrheic) completed a VO2max test, resting control trial, and 55/80 stress test. The 55/80 involves alternating between 1 min at 55% VO2max and 4 min at 80% VO2max. Blood and saliva were collected pre, post, and 30 min post-55/80, and at coinciding time points during the resting control trial. Plasma progesterone, estrogen, and plasma and salivary cortisol and testosterone were analyzed via ELISA. A significant elevation of salivary and plasma cortisol (~141% and ~87%, respectively, p < 0.001), salivary testosterone (~93%, p < 0.001), and plasma progesterone (~58%, p = 0.004) were evident from pre- to post-55/80. Plasma testosterone remained unchanged. Hormonal responses were attenuated in oral contraceptive users. The 55/80 induces hormonal elevations in females, similar in magnitude as males.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Physiological Reports
Creators:	Baker, C., Piasecki, J., Hunt, J.A., Foulds, G. and Hough, J.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	December 2024
Volume:	12
Number:	24
ISSN:	2051-817X
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.14814/phy2.70168 DOI 2378307 Other
Rights:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	18 Feb 2025 15:39
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2025 15:39
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53066

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