A influência do genótipo da ECA sobre a aptid？o cardiovascular de jovens do sexo masculino moderadamente ativos

background: the angiotensin i-converting enzyme gene (ace gene) has been broadly studied as for cardiorespiratory fitness phenotypes, but the association of the ace genotype to middle-distance running has been poorly investigated. objective: this study investigated the possible influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ace) genotype (i/d) on cardiovascular fitness and middle-distance running performance of brazilian young males. the validity of vo2max to predict the ace genotype was also analyzed. methods: a homogeneous group of moderately active young males were evaluated in a 1,600 m running track test (v1600m; m.min-1) and in an incremental treadmill test for vo2max determination. subsequently, the actual and the predicted [(0.177*v1600m) + 8.101] vo2max were compared to ace genotypes. results: the vo2max and v1600m recorded for dd, id and ii genotypes were 45.6 (1.8); 51.9 (0.8) and 54.4 (1.0) ml.kg-1.min-1 and 211.2 (8.3); 249.1 (4.3) and 258.6 (5.4) m.min-1 respectively, and were significantly lower for dd carriers (p< 0.05). the actual and predicted vo2max did not differ from each other despite ace genotype, but the agreement between actual and estimated vo2max methods was lower for the dd genotype. conclusion: it was concluded that there is a possible association between ace genotype, cardiovascular fitness and middle-distance running performance of moderately active young males and that the accuracy of vo2max prediction may also depend on the ace genotype of the participants.