Aerobic exercise attenuates inducible TNF production in humans

Abstract

Aerobic exercise reduces coronary heart disease risk, but the mechanisms of this protection are not fully understood. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease mediated by monocyte-derived macrophages, which accumulate in arterial plaques and become activated to release factors, including cytokines, that cause damage. Here we studied the effects of aerobic training on monocyte production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in whole blood ex vivo. Healthy young sedentary adults (n = 61, age 20-45 yr) were randomized to a moderate- (M) or a high- (H) intensity 12-wk training program. Whole blood was extracted before and after training, and then it was stimulated by addition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS); inducible TNF was measured in the plasma. Data were analyzed according to intention to treat principles using a random-effect model to determine the impact of training group on maximal aerobic capacity and LPS-stimulated TNF after correcting for covariates. Analyses revealed improvement in aerobic capacity in both the H (9%) and the M (7%) groups. However, aerobic training led to significant (P < 0.001) decreases in TNF release only in the H group. These data suggest that in healthy young adults, a 12-wk high-intensity aerobic training program downregulates blood monocyte production of stimulated cytokine release.

Meditation: Should a cardiologist care?

“…Evidence suggests that the beneficial effects of exercise may be mediated, at least in part, through this anti-inflammatory reflex. 36 The potential favorable effects of meditation on autonomic tone have the potential to produce similar beneficial effects through this reflex, though to date data is limited.…”

Autonomic Contribution to Endothelin-1 Increase during Laboratory Anger-Recall Stress in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

“…For example, in a study of 757 CAR-DIA participants, Sloan et al (40) found that hf-HRV derived from 10 minutes resting ECG was correlated inversely with levels of both C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 (IL-6), two markers of chronic inflammation. In another study (41) it was found that aerobic training, known to increase resting peripheral nervous system (PNS) activity (42,43), significantly reduced the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α by stimulated macrophages. TNF-α can provoke release of ET-1 from macrophages (11,12), and has been observed in combination with ET-1 to promote constriction in the coronary microvascular bed (44).…”

Aerobic Exercise Training and Inducible Inflammation: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy, Young Adults

“…Many studies reporting longer training programs, some as long as many years, show the predicted anti‐inflammatory effects of training. However, this explanation, too, is unlikely to account for the failure of the training program to produce an anti‐inflammatory effect because many longer studies show no effect9, 10, 11, 12 and many studies of shorter interventions have the predicted effects 14, 16, 33…”