HYPOXIA AND PHYSICAL TRAINING: IMPLICATIONS ON SPORTS PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH

• Grant number: 23/02728-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2030
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Claudio Alexandre Gobatto
• Grantee: Claudio Alexandre Gobatto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas (FCA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Limeira , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Fúlvia de Barros Manchado Gobatto ; Marcelo Papoti
• Associated researchers: Allan da Silva Pinto ; Bruno Tesini Roseguini ; Daniel Muller Hirai ; Daniel Papoti ; Gustavo Gomes de Araujo ; Igor Alexandre Fernandes ; Maria Concepción García Otaduy ; Nikolai Baastrup Nordsborg ; Patricia Chakur Brum ; Ricardo da Silva Torres ; Tomas Alberto Prolla ; Wladimir Rafael Beck

Abstract

The physiological adaptations resulting from exposure to altitude have always aroused the interest of researchers, with investigations in real or simulated conditions of hypoxia observed since the 19th century. Currently, physical training at altitude has stood out in the field of physical and sports performance. In this regard, there are different models involving hypoxia, from those characterized by long stays at high altitudes, to short periods of exposure to reduced oxygen simulated in training or recovery sessions. The three models currently most explored in the literature are "Live high - train high (LH-TH)"; "Live high - train low (LH-TL)" and "Live low - train high (LL-TH)". However, exposure to hypoxia may have been used to generate non-hematological tolerances (e.g., glycolytic homeostasis, lipolysis, angiogenesis, maintenance of body mass), which may be highly relevant in pathological settings. Therefore, hypoxia models can generate insights for researchers dedicated to studying different areas of health, such as aging, blood and metabolic diseases. Many gaps still remain when associating training with hypoxia, especially regarding molecular, central and peripheral adaptations, on physical performance and health, since most studies do not quantify, in a precise and individualized way, the training load and the dose of hypoxia. Still, studies on this subject commonly apply statistical analysis of cause and effect, not enhancing the integrated understanding of the impacts of these interventions on the body. In summary, our thematic proposal hopes to contribute, not only to increase sports performance in view of the use of physical training in hypoxia, but also to establish, with greater consistency, the knowledge of respiratory physiology and tissues (brain, muscle and adipose), perhaps enabling future therapeutic applications for patients with hypoxia kept in intensive care, improving the understanding of the molecular mechanisms related to central and peripheral adaptations in different chronic exercise stimuli. Although it is not the focus of the proposal to study specific diseases, the world has focused efforts, motivated by COVID-19, on better understanding the breathing processes and the impact generated in conditions in which blood oxygen saturation reaches critical values. In general, the thematic project aims to investigate molecular, central and peripheral adaptations to physical training at altitude under the three regimens (LH-TH, LH-TL, and LL-TH) applied to athletes and rodents, and their effects on performance and health. In an innovative way, we will use modern technologies to obtain data before, during and after the interventions in both series, with physiological measurements in vivo (such as muscle oxygenation) and in specific tissues (contents of key proteins for adaptations to exercise and hypoxia). As differences in relation to what already exists in this line, we will monitor the training load, the individualized hypoxia dose and the thermographic alterations as possible mediators of the aerobic and anaerobic responses in metabolic, tissue and molecular levels. Through computational models, such as time series analysis, Machine Learning and complex networks approach, the project will follow the frontier of knowledge about physical training and hypoxia. The team of researchers involved in the proposal has a high level of knowledge on the subject and on aspects closely linked to it. Our laboratories have been working with these models for years, including interventions that contributed to the conquest of the world record in the 1,500m race at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics. The national and international partnerships established here do not constitute an agglomeration of excellent researchers, given that we are producing in consolidated collaborations or in previous scientific approaches. (AU)