Prediction of Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity From Selected Oxidative Stress Parameters, Muscle Damage Indices and Inflammatory Markers in Soccer and Hockey Players

Introduction The aim of the present study was to find the relation of exercise-induced biomarkers (antioxidant, muscle damage, and inflammatory markers) with endurance capacity and anaerobic power. The study also aimed to develop predicting regression models for maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max) and relative anaerobic power (Wpeak) to specify the essential performance limiting elements. Material and Methods Eighty-six endurance male players (i.e., football (n = 39) and field hockey (n = 47)) were selected as test subjects for the present study. Muscle damage indices (creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), cortisol), inflammatory markers (interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)), antioxidant variables (malondialde-hyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx)) and performance variables (indicated as V̇O2max and Wpeak) were assessed using standard protocols. Results The most significant (sig p ---lt--- 0.001) prediction of V̇O2max = (0.763) MDA+ (5.644) SOD+ (0.039) GSH- (0.154) GPx+ (0.002) LDH- (0.011) CK+ (0.038) cortisol+ (1.232) IL+ (1.135) TNF+ 20.018. The strongest correlations were found between V̇O2max vs MDA (R2 = 0.852), V̇O2max vs IL-6 (R2 = 0.589), V̇O2max vs TNF-α (R2 = 0.385). Conclusions Artificial neural network perceptron model depicted stronger prediction of V̇O2max (R2 = 0.872) in comparison to Wpeak (R2 = 0.271), with MDA and CK as the major predictors for V̇O2max and Wpeak, respectively. Among all biomarkers, MDA, IL-6, and TNF-α were identified as the most valuable indicators to predict endurance capacity significantly. While MDA, SOD, GPx, IL-6, and TNF-α were strongly correlated with V̇O2max and LDH, cortisol was strongly correlated with Wpeak. Contrarily, exercise-induced biomarkers failed to predict anaerobic power.