In current study we reviewed some muscle injury markers published in recent decades, firstly.

Creatine kinase (CK) and myoglobin (Mb) are routinely used to evaluate the injuries in laboratory tests. High CK activity is detectable in muscle, heart and brain. CK-MM is the main isoenzyme in muscle. It has been suggested that myoglobin (Mb) is an excellent marker of acute muscle damage or increased muscle membrane permeability. Although fast myosin is a totally specific marker for skeletal muscle, it shows a delayed increase after exercise-induced muscle injury. It is therefore not suitable for early diagnosis of muscle injury. [alpha]-actin is a new and reliable marker of skeletal muscle damage. Discrimination between skeletal and cardiac muscle damage can be done by the combined use of [alpha]-actin and troponin I (TnI). Troponin I (TnI) is only expressed in striated muscle fibers. Slow and fast skeletal TnI (ssTnI and fsTnI) are produced in slow- and fast-twitch (ST and FT) fibers, respectively. Fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) is one of the novel and promising plasma markers for detection of tissue injury. Heart-type (H)-FABP appears to be a valid serum biomarker for the early diagnosis of: AMI, stroke, and acute muscle damage.

The ratio of Mb over H-FABP is significantly different in cardiac muscle compared to of that in skeletal muscles. It seems that the ratio of serum mean values of Mb over H-FABP is a good marker to evaluate the cardiac and skeletal muscle injuries.

In practical part of the current study we evaluated the changes of serum mean values of Mb and H-FABP in a group of well trained athletes after low and high intensity exercises. The serum mean values of Mb and H-FABP and also the ratio of Mb over H-FABP were significantly increased after high intensity exercise in our subjects. It can be assumed that these two latter markers and expression of them as a ratio of Mb over H-FABP could give trainers a better diagnostic view of the players.