Assessing hair cortisol as new biomarker for athletic conditioning

• Project/Area Number: 15K12640
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sports science
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: SOYA Hideaki 筑波大学, 体育系, 教授 (50221346)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 榎本 靖士 筑波大学, 体育系, 准教授 (90379058) ; 齋藤 剛 静岡福祉大学, 子ども学部, 教授 (60413259)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): OKAZAKI Kazunobu 大阪市立大学, 都市健康・スポーツ研究センター, 准教授 (70447754) ; OKAMOTO Masahiro 筑波大学, 体育系, 助教 (30726617)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
• Keywords: 長期的ストレス / 毛髪コルチゾール / オーバートレーニング / 慢性疲労 / 酸素運搬能

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Overtraining is primarily related to chronic stress caused by sustained high load training and is often coupled with other stressors. However, a diagnostic tool that monitors chronic stress has yet to be developed. To address this issue, we focus on the hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) as a novel biomarker of chronic stress, and we investigate the effect of training on HCC a whole season in female runners and the relationships between HCC and oxygen transport ability. HCC, blood cortisol, hemoglobin concentrations (Hb) were measured once per month over a whole season together with recording training load. The HCC was measured in the most proximal 1cm of hair by using ELISA. The result showed that the significant effects of training load on HCC and the significant negative effect of HCC on Hb with ANCOVA. These results suggest that HCC may be a useful biomarker of chronic stress that caused by training, which may in turn be a possible diagnostic tool for detecting overtraining.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Assessment of training in female runners using hair cortisol: a new biomarker for preventing overtraining (2017)
  • Author(s): Ai Bamba, Genta Ochi, Hideaki Soya
  • Organizer: ヒューマン・ハイ・パフォーマンス 2017 ー意欲とパフォーマンスー
  • Place of Presentation: 筑波大学（茨城県つくば市）
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-08
• [Presentation] Assessment of training in female runners using hair cortisol: a new biomarker for preventing overtraining (2017)
  • Author(s): Ai Bamba, Genta Ochi, Hideaki Soya
  • Organizer: ARIHHP Human High Performance International Forum 2017 "Sport Science for Olympic and Paralympic Games"
  • Place of Presentation: 筑波大学（茨城県つくば市）
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-07
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Assessment of training in female runners using hair cortisol: a new biomarker for preventing overtraining (2017)
  • Author(s): Ai Bamba, Genta Ochi, Hideaki Soya
  • Organizer: Global Initiative for Sports Neuroscience 2017 "For Development of Exercise Prescription Enhancing Cognitive Functions"
  • Place of Presentation: 筑波大学（茨城県つくば市）
  • Year and Date: 2017-02-27
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 毛髪中コルチゾールを用いた高地トレーニングのモニタリング：持久性適応を損なう慢性ストレス (2015)
  • Author(s): 番場愛，岡本正洋，越智元太，榎本靖士，岡崎和伸，征矢英昭
  • Organizer: 第70回日本体力医学会大会
  • Place of Presentation: 和歌山県民文化会館/ホテルアバローム紀の国（和歌山県和歌山市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-19
• [Presentation] Increased hair cortisol levels in female endurance athletes through altitude training: A useful diagnostic tool for overtraining. (2015)
  • Author(s): Bamba A, Okamoto M, Ochi G, Hyodo K, Okazaki K, Enomoto Y, Soya H
  • Organizer: European College of Sport Science 2015
  • Place of Presentation: Malmo, Sweden
  • Year and Date: 2015-06-26
  • Int'l Joint Research