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Oxidative stress in older adults: effects of physical fitness

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Abstract

Acute exercise results in transient change in redox balance. High concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can lead to oxidative damage to macromolecules. However, moderate periodic increases in ROS, such as experienced with habitual exercise, may activate signal transduction pathways which stimulate increases in endogenous antioxidant systems. This study tested the hypothesis that physically fit older adults would have less oxidative stress than unfit age-matched controls, due to greater circulating concentrations of non-enzymatic antioxidants and greater capacity to upregulate antioxidant enzymes. We compared 37 fit (mean age 65.2 ± 5 years) and 35 unfit (mean age 67.7 ± 4 years) men and women. Fitness status was classified by VO2 max and maximal leg power. Basal levels of oxidative stress were assessed by measuring urinary markers of nucleic acid damage and lipid peroxidation. Antioxidant status was assessed by measuring total antioxidant power and ratios of reduced to oxidized glutathione in plasma, at rest. The capacity to counteract an oxidative insult was assessed by measuring changes in plasma F2-isoprostanes in response to forearm ischemia–reperfusion. The fit individuals had significantly lower levels of urinary markers of oxidative damage (all P <0.05) and lower F2-isoprostane response to the oxidative challenge (P < 0.05), but there were no group differences in antioxidant status. The lower levels of oxidative stress in the fit individuals were not mediated by known effects of exercise training such as adiposity, HDL concentrations, or small molecular weight antioxidants. These data suggest that reduced oxidative stress associated with physical fitness results from differences in activity of antioxidant enzymes.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Panayiotis Tsitouras, the KLRI clinical staff, Pat Levin, and Jane Heilman for their invaluable help in the administration and data collection of this study. We also thank our study volunteers for their willingness to participate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kronos Longevity Research Institute, 2222 E. Highland Ave., Suite 220, Phoenix, AZ, 85016, USA

    Tinna Traustadóttir & S. Mitchell Harman

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA

    Sean S. Davies & L. Jackson Roberts II

  3. Kronos Science Laboratory, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Yali Su

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA

    Leena Choi

  5. Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Therapeutics, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND, USA

    Holly M. Brown-Borg

Authors
  1. Tinna Traustadóttir
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  2. Sean S. Davies
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  3. Yali Su
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  4. Leena Choi
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  5. Holly M. Brown-Borg
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  6. L. Jackson Roberts II
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  7. S. Mitchell Harman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tinna Traustadóttir.

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Supplemental Figure 1

Baseline plasma F2-isoprostane levels by maximal oxygen consumption. The solid line is the overall group mean and the dotted line is 2 SDs above the mean. The five individuals above the dotted line were considered outliers and were excluded from main analyses. (DOC 58 kb)

Supplemental Figure 2

a Plasma F2-isoprostane responses to the forearm I/R contrasting the individual responses of the five outliers to the group means (without the outliers). The outliers had higher F2-isoprostane levels across all the sampling points. b The mean response in both groups with the outliers included. The pattern of response is the same as without the outliers included but the variance is increased. (DOC 88 kb)

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Traustadóttir, T., Davies, S.S., Su, Y. et al. Oxidative stress in older adults: effects of physical fitness. AGE 34, 969–982 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-011-9277-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-011-9277-6

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