title: Differential effects of endurance training and weight loss on plasma adiponectin multimers and adipose tissue macrophages in younger, moderately overweight men.
abstract: Obese individuals are characterized by low circulating adiponectin concentrations and an increased number of macrophages in adipose tissue, which is believed to be causally associated with chronic low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance. Regular physical exercise decreases overall morbidity in obese subjects, which may be due to modulations of inflammatory pathways. In this randomized clinical trial we investigated the separate effects of endurance training-induced weight loss, diet-induced weight loss, and endurance training per se (without weight loss) on plasma adiponectin multimer composition (Western blotting) and adipose tissue macrophage content (immunohistochemistry) in young, moderately overweight men. Weight loss and endurance training per se decreased whole body fat percentage in an additive manner. No intervention-induced changes were observed for plasma total adiponectin. Surprisingly, endurance training, irrespectively of any associated weight loss, shifted the adiponectin multimer distribution toward a lower molecular weight (21% decrease in HMW/LMW, P = 0.015), whereas diet-induced weight loss shifted the distribution toward a higher molecular weight (42% increase in HMW/MMW, P < 0.001). Furthermore, endurance training per se increased the number of anti-inflammatory CD163⁺ macrophages [from 12.7 ± 2.1 (means ± SE) to 16.1 ± 3.1 CD163⁺ cells/100 adipocytes, P = 0.013], whereas diet-induced weight loss tended to decrease CD68⁺ macrophages in subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. Thus regular physical exercise influences systemic and adipose tissue inflammatory pathways differently than diet-induced weight loss in younger, moderately overweight men. Our data suggest that some of the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle may occur through modulations of anti- rather than pro-inflammatory pathways in young, overweight men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. auerbach@sund.ku.dk
authors.forename: Pernille
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.forename: Pernille
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nordby
authors.forename: Line Q
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Bendtsen
authors.forename: Jesper L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mehlsen
authors.forename: Smita K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Basnet
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vestergaard
authors.forename: Thorkil
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ploug
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stallknecht
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010807:Physical Endurance; D010809:Physical Fitness; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin
keywords: adipokines; aerobic exercise; cytokines; low-grade inflammation; obesity