Effect of acute moderate aerobic cycling on systemic inflammatory responses in young untrained men

Abstract

Objectives. - There is evidence to suggest that exercising can induce an inflammatory response. The present study was conducted to determine the effect of a fixed period of acute moderate cycling on systemic inflammatory responses in young untrained men. Methods. - This quasi-experimental pre-post design study was carried out on 10 young, healthy, untrained men. One week after preliminary measures were recorded, the subjects participated in an acute moderate cycling protocol (45 min with 50% VO(2max)). Complete blood cell counts, fasting blood glucose, serum interleukin-6, interleukin-10, C-reactive protein and plasma cortisol and epinephrine were analyzed. Results. - Total and differential circulating leukocyte counts increased immediately after acute moderate cycling. In addition, serum interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and C-reactive protein concentrations, and plasma levels of epinephrine and cortisol increased immediately after exercise (P < 0.005). Furthermore, there was a positive and significant correlation between the post-exercise total leukocyte counts and serum interleukin-10 levels (P=0.021). Surprisingly, correlations between exercise-induced reduced fasting blood glucose levels, total leukocyte counts and serum C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels after exercise were not significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion. - Moderate exercise is not sufficient to induce immunological stress/reactions in healthy individuals. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.