Comparing the effects of 8-weeks of high intensity interval trainings (HIIT), endurance and resistance training on serum miRNA-210 expression and HIF-1 concentration in young male athletes

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of biomarkers that involved in many biological processes and gene expression. The present study examined the effects of eight weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT), endurance and resistance training on the expression of miRNA-210 and serum Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) level in young male athletes.

Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 40 young male athletes randomized into four groups including HIIT, endurance (EN), resistance (RES) trainings for eight weeks and also control groups. The HIIT program was consisted of 6-8 running sprints (30-60 seconds) with a 3.5-4 min recovery. Endurance training was included on 40-30 minutes of running at 75-70% heart rate reserve. Moreover, resistance training was a circuit training program consisting of three sets of 8-6 repetitions including chest press, curls, leg press, hack press and leg extension at 80-75% of one-repetition maximum (1RM). Blood samples were taken 24 hours pre and post intervention. Finally, the results were analyzed using one way analysis of variance and paired samples t test.

Results: Serum miRNA-210 expression and HIF-1α concentration were significantly increased following to three types of training (P<0.05). However, the amount of the observed increases were significantly higher in HIIT group rather than both EN and RES groups (P<0.05) with no significant difference between EN and RES groups (P>0.05).

Conclusion: All three training protocols increased Serum miRNA-210 expression and HIF-1α concentration with better efficiency of HIIT proposing it as an effective training method in this area.