The relationships between galectin-3 levels with cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes

Introduction: Galectin-3 is a new and promising biomarker for heart failure and myocardial fibrosis. Although clinical studies indicated that galectin-3 levels are strongly associated with changes of left ventricular structure and function in patients with chronic heart failure, but these relationships in athletes are not well known. The present study was conducted to examine the relationships between galectin-3 levels with cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes. Material & Methods: Fifteen resistance-trained male athletes (aged: 23.0 ± 1.4 years and BMI: 24.1 ± 1.4 kg/m2; ± SD) volunteered to participate in this study. Galectin-3 concentrations were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits and cardiac morphology and function were assessed by echocardiography. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Results: The results demonstrated that there were no significant relationships between galectin-3 concentrations with left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) (r= ‒ 0.12 , P = 0.6), aorta (r = 0.12 , P = 0.6) and pulmonary artery diameter (r = 0.25 , P = 0.3), posterior wall thickness of left ventricle at end diastole (PWTLV) (r = ‒ 0.27 , P = 0.3), interventricular septal (r = ‒ 0.15 , P = 0.9), left ventricle end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) (r = 0.009 , P = 0.9), and left ventricle end-systolic volume (LVESV) (r = 0.24 , P = 0.3). Conclusions: In conclusion, galectin-3 concentration is not a powerful predictor for cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes.