The impact of six-week of small-sided soccer games on telomere length and TRF2 gene expression in the middle-aged males

Because the length of leukocyte telomeres can be used as a biomarker to detect cell longevity and predict mortality and cell disease, recently, many people have been interested in examining the effects of exercise on telomere lengths. Protecting the length of human telomeres definitely depends on TRF2 as one of the subunits of the shelterin protein complex. The present study intends to investigate the effects of six-week SSGs on telomere length and TRF2 gene expression in the middle-aged males. A semi-experimental design was employed to investigate this issue in the present study. The subjects were selected from a statistical population of men between the ages of 35 and 41. There was a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group that included 10 ones played soccer in small fields, according to the exercise protocol, for six weeks, with two 45-minute sessions per week. The data were analyzed through using SPSS software version 25 that was used to obtain independent t-test with significant level of p <0.05. Real time PCR was used to measure the length of the telomeres and TRF2 gene expression, the fat percentage was measured the caliper and the VO2max by the Rocket Field Test. The results of the present study indicated that there was a significant change in the Fat percentage p=0.016 and VO2max p=0.012 and TRF2 gene expression p=0.019 following six weeks of SSGs yet no significant change was observed in telomere length p=0.938. It can be included that Six-week SSGs can improve biological age of middle-aged peoples by promoting health-related indicators.