RT Journal Article
T1 Zinc transporters expression profile in professional handball players supplemented with zinc
A1 Molina López, Jorge
A1 Florea, Daniela
A1 Gamarra Morales, Yenifer
A1 Herrera-Quintana, Lourdes
A1 Vázquez Lorente, Héctor
A1 Hogstrand, Christer
A1 Planells, Elena
AB Introduction: Zinc (Zn) deficiency has been described not only on general human health but also within the sports context -as negatively affecting performance-. Thus, Zn status assessment is of great interest for athletes, especially in order to correct deficiency states of this mineral.Objective: The overall objective of this work was to assess Zn status in professional handball players during the competitive period (through plasma levels, dietary intake and gene expression of the Zn transporters), as well as to determine the effect of Zn supplementation.Methods: A total of twenty-two participants were recruited, -twelve belonged to the Control Group (CG) and ten male handball players comprised the experimental group (ATH-G)-, being monitored over a 2-month period with 2 evaluation moments: baseline (i.e., initial conditions) and follow-up (i.e., after 8 weeks of training and competition). Zn intake, plasma Zn levels, and gene expression of Zn transporters were obtained.Results: Plasma Zn levels were higher in ATH-G than in CG at the end of Zn intervention (p ≤ 0.010). Moreover, differences in the gene expression profile of Zn transporters were observed in ATH-G -with the down-regulation of several Zn transporters-, compared to the CG at baseline (p ≤ 0.05). Likewise, differences in the Zn transporters expression were observed in ATH-G at 8 weeks (all, p ≤ 0.001) -with ZnT2, ZnT5, ZIP3, ZIP5, ZIP11, ZIP13 and ZIP14 transporters being up-regulated-.Conclusion: Handball players seemed to have different nutritional needs for Zn, with differences in the gene expression of Zn transporters compared to controls. Zn intervention in our athletes may have influenced the expression of Zn transporters, indicating a potential increase in Zn transporters expression to mobilize Zn at the cellular level at 8 weeks of Zn intervention.
PB Elsevier
SN 0946-672X
SN 1878-3252 (electrónico)
YR 2024
FD 2024-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24019
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24019
LA eng
NO Molina-López, J., Florea, D., Gamarra-Morales, Y., Herrera-Quintana, L., Vázquez-Lorente, H., Hogstrand, C., & Planells, E. (2024). Zinc transporters expression profile in professional handball players supplemented with zinc. In Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology (Vol. 85, p. 127473). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2024.127473
NO We thank COST Action TD1304 e-Network for the Biology of Zinc(Zinc-Net) for favoring our collaboration with experts on zinc biomarkers.This article is based upon work from COST Action TD1304supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada /CBUA.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026