Investigation of MicroRNA-1 (miRNA-1) and MicroRNA-133a (miRNA-133a) Levels After Acute Neuromuscular Exercise in Ultimate Frisbee Athletes

The genetic material in humans and other living things is DNA, and the information in DNA is transcribed into RNA, and RNA translates this information into protein through translation. More than 98% of RNA cannot be translated into protein this untranslated part is called non-coding RNA. Of the non-coding RNAs, micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are short RNAs of approximately 21-23 nucleotides in length that do not code for proteins and that control gene expression after transcription. miRNAs can partially bind to target messenger RNAs (mRNAs), suppressing protein production or silencing gene expression by splicing target mRNAs. miRNAs enable cell differentiation and development by using the translational repression mechanism. In addition to these roles, miRNAs play a role in many points such as cellular metabolism, repair mechanisms, signaling, cell division, and apoptosis pathways. Studies also identify miRNAs as essential intracellular mediators of processes involved in exercise adaptation, including angiogenesis, inflammation, mitochondrial metabolism, cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction force generation, and tissue hypertrophy. There is evidence that the miRNA may play an important role in regulating the plasticity of the skeletal muscles, such as the hypertrophy of the skeletal muscles, or in regulating the functional properties of the muscle. More than 2000 miRNAs have been identified in humans, and some of them are found and function in the human body in a tissue-specific manner. For example, miRNAs, mostly found in muscle tissue and therefore called myomiRs, are involved in proliferation, muscle cell differentiation, metabolism, and hypertrophy in skeletal and cardiac muscles. The myomiR class includes miR-1, miR-133a, miR-133b, miR-206, miR-208a, miR-208b, miR-486, and miR-499. In the literature, studies examine miRNA levels before and after using various exercise modalities. It has been stated that different miRNAs provide responses such as ventricular compliance, hypertrophy, angiogenesis, and mitochondrial biogenesis after acute or chronic exercise. It has been shown in many studies that these responses, decreased or increased miRNA levels after exercise, are related to the target genes they affect, such as IGF-1, PGC-1α, MAPK, TGF-β, COL1A1, and FOXJ3.

The aim of the study is to investigate the levels of miRNA-1 and miRNA-133a levels after acute neuromuscular exercise (NME) in human saliva.