Six Sprints Altered 714 Blood Proteins
A study of 19 young men found six 30-second maximal cycling sprints altered 714 blood proteins immediately while 90 minutes of moderate cycling altered seven, with the sprint plasma also producing far larger gene-activity shifts in lab-grown fat cells.
After six 30-second maximal cycling sprints with four-minute rest periods, 714 of the 2,884 measured blood proteins changed immediately. After 90 minutes of moderate cycling, seven proteins changed immediately; at three hours, 19 had changed. The study was published August 13 in Cell Reports Medicine. The researchers studied 19 young men, comparing the two protocols. Blood was drawn before exercise, immediately after, and three hours later.
After exercise, muscles, adipose tissue, the liver, and immune cells reshape plasma composition. The resulting mixture reaches other tissues, where it can change gene activity. The researchers added plasma collected before and immediately after exercise to human fat cells (adipocytes) grown in the lab. After three hours, plasma from the sprints raised the activity of 1,128 genes and lowered the activity of 549 genes. Plasma from the moderate protocol altered 25 genes.
The authors compared 741 proteins from the experiment with data from UK Biobank, where protein levels are linked to diagnoses and disease risk among 53,026 participants. Among 33 proteins statistically linked to lower risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic disorders, 32 changed after the sprints and 3 changed after moderate cycling. The association is statistical: the authors selected these molecules for further experiments.
The cells received whole plasma, so the results reflect the effect of the complete mixture of substances produced by each protocol. The two protocols differed in both intensity and duration, so the result cannot be attributed to intensity alone.
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[1] cell.com
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