從事不熟悉高強度的離心運動時會因機械或代謝壓力,而引起很明顯的肌肉細微損傷,進而會啓動一連串的肌肉損傷之瀑布效應。例如在離心運動之後,由於肌肉內部鈣離子濃度的增加,會導致鈣離子穩定狀態受到干擾,進而活化非溶酶體半胱氨酸蛋白酶和鈣蛋白酶。其中,鈣蛋白酶在離心運動所引起的骨骼肌蛋白質分解反應、發炎反應以及修補過程中,均可能扮演著一個很重要的角色。發炎反應被認為是與血液和骨骼肌肉中的荷爾蒙、細胞激素濃度的改變有關。在過去探討「離心運動對肌肉損傷」的相關研究中,血液肌酸激酶(CK)活性和肌紅素(Mb)濃度是最常被使用做為評估肌肉損傷的生化指標。肌肉中的結構性結合蛋白質,例如肌球蛋白重鏈、肌鈣蛋白也可以做為肌肉損傷的指標。另外,分析心臟脂肪酸結合蛋白質(H-FABP)和Mb比CK更適合用來做為診斷骨骼肌從事損傷性運動之後的初期評估指標,而且若能同時測量這二個指標時,也可以藉由計算肌紅素除以H-FABP的比值,進而可以提高診斷出肌肉真正受到損傷程度的精確性。因此,在未來的實際運動訓練上,運科人員和運動教練若能對運動員定期實施分析肌紅素和H-FABP值時,可以做為運動選手是否有發生過度訓練情形的指標,或運動員在進行負功或離心運動訓練期間,監控肌肉發生損傷的指標,進而可以做到早期監控的效果。
Muscle damage after strenuous and unaccustomed eccentric exercise is related to structural damage of the contractile apparatus that can be observed as Z-line streaming and myofibrillar disruption. Mechanical stress, metabolic stress or both stresses in nature are the main contributing factors for causing muscle damage. Disturbances in Ca(superscript 2+) homeostasis with increased intracellular [Ca(superscript 2+)] activate the nonlysomal cysteine protease, calpain. Calpain has been assumed to play a major role in triggering the response of skeletal muscle protein breakdown, of inflammatory changes, and of regeneration processes in response to eccentric exercise. The inflammatory response is ascribed to changes in hormone and cytokine levels in blood and skeletal muscle. To evaluate the magnitude of skeletal damage, blood CK and myoglobin (Mb) levels have been frequently used as indirectly indicators for muscle cell damage. As the cytosolic proteins do not necessarily reflect the extent of structural damage, structurally bound proteins such as myosin heavy chains (MHC) and troponin have been examined. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to briefly review the cascade of events resulting in muscle damage following unaccustomed eccentric exercise and the potential of muscle proteins as indicators of skeletal muscle damage. We hope that this review paper would provide some useful information or reference for coaches, athletes, and sports practitioners to eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage.