Siberian Federal University Experts To Monitor Athlete Condition With Saliva
SibFU researchers have developed a saliva biotesting method, providing a rapid monitoring of athlete’s body state during training. The results of the study are published in Sensors journal.
During sports, the level of lactate (a derivative of lactic acid intensively produced in the muscles during physical activity) in a human body changes, and to monitor the condition of an athlete during training, sports medicine specialists measure the level of lactate in their blood.
Siberian Federal University scientists assume that taking a blood sample from an athlete during training is stressful, so they proposed monitoring the training process by analyzing a saliva sample.
Non-invasive methods can propel the monitoring of the training load to the next level, noted Galina Zhukova, researcher at the Laboratory of Bioluminescence (Siberian Federal University).
“Saliva samples can be used for diagnosing the state of an athlete’s body. It has been proven, that lactate levels in blood and saliva have a positive correlation. Therefore, we aimed at developing analytical systems that can easily and promptly determine the content of lactate in saliva,” Galina shared with RIA Novosti Information Agency/
According to the expert, such analytical system can be based on measuring bioluminescence, i.e. the level of light emission by bacterial enzymes in the presence of saliva samples before and during exercise. The method of bioluminescent inhibition is an original development by Dr Valentina Kratasyuk, head of the Department of Biophysics, School of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University.
The SibFU scientists conducted experiments with ski athletes and revealed that for non-invasive monitoring of the training process medical experts can use a lactate-specific bioluminescent enzymatic system.
“Measurement of lactate concentration in saliva samples does not require specific skills, and a health record is ready in two minutes, while similar analyses require 10 or more minutes,” explained Galina Zhukova.
In the future, the researchers intend to develop a user-friendly biosensor and software. They believe that the biosensor can become a popular analytical tool for sports medicine advantaging in its portability, speed, non-invasiveness, and being handy for conducting diagnostics during the training process.
Young athletes — students of the School of Physical Education, Sport and Tourism (SibFU) — contributed to the research.