Variabilities of salivary human herpesvirus 6/7 and cortisol levels during a three-day training camp in judo athletes

Abstract

Physical fatigue accompanying athletic training has been a problem for ages. While salivary cortisol has traditionally been used to assess physical stressors, salivary human herpesvirus 6 and/or 7 (HHV-6/7) have recently been presented as novel microbiological markers. Thus, we examined differences in the short-term variabilities of salivary HHV-6/7 and cortisol levels in athletes. We collected saliva samples from 14 healthy male university judo athletes who participated in a three-day training camp pre- and post-training each day to measure salivary HHV-6/7 and cortisol levels. Simultaneously, the plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibition rates and total mood disturbance (TMD) scores in the Profile of Mood States were measured as indicators of physical and psychological stressors, respectively. The plasma SOD inhibition rates significantly increased post-training, but the TMD scores did not change; thus, the physical stressors were relatively higher than the psychological stressors during the training camp. Salivary HHV-6/7 levels increased post-training with a significant main effect of training, but no changes were observed in the daily levels. Only salivary HHV-7 levels showed a significant training × elapsed day interaction. Salivary cortisol levels showed a significant main effect of training, but its levels decreased post-training. These findings suggest that salivary HHV-6/7 are sensitive markers of physical fatigue more than salivary cortisol.