Hormonal Responses in Strenuous Jumping Effort

In order to test the possibility for rapid responses of blood hormone levels in short-term supramaximal exercises, serum concentrations of corticotropin (ACTH), cortisol (C), total testosterone (tT), free testosterone (fT), growth hormone (GH), thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3), prolactin (PRL), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were determined by RIA procedures in blood samples obtained before and immediately after a 60-s period of consecutive vertical jumps (Bosco test). The study subjects were 16 Italian professional soccer players. Immediately after exercise, significant increases (p < 0.05) were found in the concentrations of ACTH (by 39%), C (by 14%), TSH (by 20%), fT3 (by 28%), fT4 (by 30%), tT (by 12%), fT (by 13%), and SHBG (by 21%). Significant changes were not detected in the blood levels of GH, IGF-I and PRL. Most pronounced testosterone responses were typical for persons of high jumping performance (the increase of serum tT correlated with average power output, r = 0.61 and jumping height, r = 0.66). The larger the drop in power output during 60-s jumping, the higher was the thyroid response: the difference in jumping height between the first and last 15-s period correlated with increases in TSH (r = 0.52) and in fT4, (r = 0.55). In conclusion, the obtained results indicate that in intense exercise, causing the rapid development of fatigue, rapid increases in serum levels of hormones of the pituitary-adrenocortical, pituitary-gonadal and pituitary-thyroid systems occur.