Exercise-associated hyponatremia cells in one area begin to increase in size, swelling occurs in the affected area. Swelling is commonly observed in hands, legs, and feet. Sodium is also important in regulating the amount of water that passes through the blood-brain barrier. Decreased sodium blood levels result in increased permeability of water across the blood-brain barrier. This increased influx of water causes brain swelling which leads to severe neurological symptoms. EAH is categorized by having a blood serum or plasma sodium level below normal, which is less than 135 mmol/l. Asymptomatic EAH is not normally detected unless the athlete has had a
Serum response factor Serum response factor Serum response factor, also known as SRF, is a transcription factor protein. Serum response factor is a member of the MADS (MCM1, Agamous, Deficiens, and SRF) box superfamily of transcription factors. This protein binds to the serum response element (SRE) in the promoter region of target genes. This protein regulates the activity of many immediate early genes, for example c-fos, and thereby participates in cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, cell growth, and cell differentiation. This gene is the downstream target of many pathways; for example, the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) that acts through the ternary complex factors