engleski

The impact of repetitive scuba dives on the cardiovascular, muscular and immune system function and integrity biomarkers

Recreational SCUBA (self­contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving is a special form of physical activity, which due to specific environmental conditions, triggers a stress response of the organism. To explore whether repetitive recreational SCUBA (rSCUBA) diving triggers an adaptive response of the cardiovascular (CV), muscular, and immune system, we measured the cardiac damage (NT‐proBNP, hs‐TnI, and CK‐MB), muscle damage (myoglobin (Mb), galectin‐3, CK, and LDH), vascular endothelial activation (ET‐1 and VEGF), and inflammatory (leukocyte count (Lkc), CRP, and IL‐6) biomarkers. A longitudinal intervention study included divers (N = 14) who conducted one dive per week over 5 weeks at the depth of 20­30 m for 30 min after a non‐dive period of 5 months. The blood samples were collected before and after the 1st, 3rd, and 5 th dives and specific biomarkers were measured in plasma or serum by the standard laboratory methods. The concentrations of the majority of measured biomarkers increased after every single dive; the exception was ET‐1 concentration that decreased. The cumulative effect of five dives has been reflected in diminishing changes in hs‐TnI, Mb, galectin‐3, ET‐1, VEGF, and IL‐6 levels, and more pronounced increases in NT‐proBNP and hs‐CRP levels. The median values of all measured biomarkers in all time points, except Mb, remained within the corresponding reference range. This study showed that rSCUBA diving causes changes in specific biomarkers that reflect (patho)physiological changes in CV, muscular, and immune system after the dive. However, it is shown for the first time that contiuously preformed SCUBA diving caused decrease of specific biomarkers highlighting possibly positive effect of diving on CVS.

SCUBA diving, galectin-3, cardiovascular biomarkers

nije evidentirano