The Acute Impact of Different Types of Aerobic Exercise on Arterial Wave Reflections and Inflammation.
OBJECTIVE
Whilst physical activity is linked to cardiovascular health, it has lately been recognized that different types of exercise exert diverse effects on the cardiovascular system. Therefore, we investigated the acute effects of continuous moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (CAE) and high-intensity interval aerobic exercise (hIAE) on arterial function and inflammation.


METHODS
Twenty healthy men (mean age 22.6 ± 3.3 years) were recruited in this crossover study. Each of the 20 volunteers participated in two separate sessions (hIAE and CAE). The augmentation index (AIx) of aortic pressure waveforms and serum levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) were measured before and after each exercise session.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in baseline hemodynamic and inflammatory measurements before CAE and hIAE. Compared to baseline, AIx was significantly improved after CAE (p = 0.04), while there was no significant change after hIAE (p = 0.65). Serum levels of IL-17 were significantly elevated after CAE (p = 0.042), while hIAE had no significant effect on IL-17 levels (p = 0.47). Interestingly, there was an inverse association between the elevation of IL-17 levels and the AIx improvement after CAE (p = 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide additional evidence concerning the cardiovascular effects of different types of exercise training through modification of peripheral hemodynamics and the inflammatory process.
1st Department of Cardiology, 'Hippokration' Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Gerasimos
G
Siasos
Dimitrios
D
Athanasiou
Gerasimos
G
Terzis
Aggeliki
A
Stasinaki
Evangelos
E
Oikonomou
Stavroula
S
Tsitkanou
Stathis
S
Dimitropoulos
Theodora
T
Kolokytha
Konstantinos
K
Tzirogiannis
Anastasia
A
Giannaki
Dimitris
D
Tousoulis
D000328:Adult; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000502:physiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000503:physiopathology
D015415:Biomarkers; D020381:Interleukin-17