Exercise Training and Vitamin C Supplementation Affects Ferritin mRNA in Leukocytes without Affecting Prooxidative/Antioxidative Balance in Elderly Women

Physical training and antioxidant supplementation may influence iron metabolism through reduced oxidative stress and subsequent lowering of mRNA levels of genes that are easily induced by this stress, including those responsible for iron homeostasis. Fifteen elderly women participated in our 12-week experiment, involving six weeks of training without supplementation and six weeks of training supported by oral supplementation of 1000 mg of vitamin C daily. The participants were divided into two groups (n = 7 in group 1 and n = 8 in group 2). In group 1, we applied vitamin C supplementation in the first six weeks of training, while in group 2 during the remaining six weeks of training. In both phases, the health-related training occurred three times per week. Training accompanied by vitamin C supplementation did not affect prooxidative/antioxidative balance but significantly decreased ferritin heavy chain (FTH) and ferritin light chain (FTL) mRNA in leukocytes (for FTH mRNA from 2^64.24 to 2^11.06, p = 0.03 in group 1 and from 2^60.54 to 2^16.03, p = 0.01 in group 2, for FTL mRNA from 2^20.22 to 2^4.53, p = 0.01 in group 2). We concluded that vitamin C supplementation might have caused a decrease in gene expression of two important antioxidative genes (FTH, FTL) and had no effect on plasma prooxidative/antioxidative balance.