Six Short Sprints Reshaped Blood Proteins and Signals Between Organs in a Different Way

Six cycling sprints altered 714 blood proteins, while 90 minutes of moderate cycling altered seven

In a paper published on August 13, researchers studied 19 young men and compared six 30-second maximal cycling sprints, separated by four-minute recovery periods, with 90 minutes of continuous moderate cycling. They measured proteins in plasma, the liquid component of blood, before exercise, immediately afterward, and three hours later. The sprints caused a large early shift, while moderate cycling produced a small delayed shift.

After exercise, muscles, adipose tissue, the liver, and immune cells alter the composition of plasma. This mixture reaches other tissues and can change gene activity within them. In a paper published in Cell Reports Medicine, the authors examined how the two cycling protocols changed plasma composition and how the resulting plasma affected adipocytes.

The protocols differed in both intensity and duration. Blood was collected before exercise, immediately afterward, and three hours later. Immediately after the sprints, 714 of the 2 884 measured proteins had changed. Immediately after moderate cycling, seven proteins had changed, and 19 had changed three hours later. The sprints and moderate cycling produced distinct time-dependent sets of molecules carried by the blood between tissues.

Plasma collected before and immediately after exercise was added to human adipocytes grown in the laboratory. After three hours, plasma collected after the sprints increased the activity of 1 128 genes and decreased the activity of 549 genes. Plasma collected after moderate cycling altered 25 genes. In this experiment, the cells received whole plasma, so the results show the effect of the complete mixture of substances produced by each exercise protocol.

The authors also compared 741 proteins from the experiment with data from the UK Biobank, where protein levels are linked to diagnoses and disease risk among 53 026 participants. For obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic disorders, they identified 33 proteins whose levels were statistically associated with lower risk. After the sprints, 32 of these proteins changed, while three changed after moderate cycling. This analysis gave the researchers a list of molecules for further experiments on the relationship between exercise and metabolic health.