Neuromuscular fatigue and recovery after strenuous exercise depends on skeletal muscle size and stem cell characteristics
Philipp Baumert, bioRxiv posted 4 February 2020
Hamstring muscle injury is highly prevalent in sports involving repeated maximal sprinting. Although neuromuscular fatigue is thought to be a risk factor, the physiological and cellular mechanisms underlying the fatigue response to repeated maximal sprints are unclear. Here, we show that repeated maximal sprints induce neuromuscular fatigue accompanied with a prolonged strength loss in hamstring muscles.
The immediate hamstring strength loss was linked to both central and peripheral fatigue, while prolonged strength loss was associated with indicators of muscle damage. The kinematic changes immediately after sprinting likely protected fatigued hamstrings from excess elongation stress and larger hamstring muscle physiological cross-sectional area appeared to protect against fatigue/damage.
Specific skeletal muscle stem cell composition (i.e lower myoblast:fibroblast ratio) was linked to improved muscle recovery within 48 h after sprinting. Contrastingly, a high myoblast:fibroblast ratio appears crucial for the latter stage of muscle regeneration. We have therefore identified novel mechanisms that likely regulate the fatigue/damage response and recovery following repeated maximal sprinting in humans.