Effects of Interval Exercise on Commonly Studied Fluid Biomarkers for Sport-related Concussion in Serum and Plasma

Abstract

High intensity interval exercise has been shown to increase blood levels of commonly studied fluid biomarkers for SRC. If true, the potential diagnostic or prognostic applications of these markers for SRC may be limited due to exercise being implicit in sport. This thesis examines the effects of interval exercise on serially collected plasma levels of t-tau, GFAP, NFL, and UCH-L1 in healthy young adults (7 females; 3 males), and differences in biomarker levels between plasma and serum matrices. The first study showed small and short-lived decreases in plasma NFL and GFAP immediately following interval exercise. The second study demonstrated differences between plasma and serum concentrations of t-tau, NFL, and GFAP. Together, these results suggest exercise should be considered prior to the clinical validation of these biomarkers for diagnosis or prognosis of SRC and highlights the need to harmonize analytical methodologies across research investigations aiming to develop objective measures of SRC.