A 2-week combined high-intensity interval training regulates inflammatory status in young females with obesity

Objectives. - Meta-inflammation is a pathological aspect of immunometabolism disturbances in obesity. This inflammatory state is promoted by inflammatory cytokine overexpression partially related to the toll-like receptor 4 pathway. Here, we assessed the direct effects of exercise (in the absence of body fat changes) on serum cytokine concentration by constructing a short-term exercise training intervention among overweight/obese subjects. Equipment and methods. - Thirty young inactive females were allocated to two groups: the inactive group (IG, continued their inactive lifestyle, n = 15) and the active group (AG, par-ticipated in two weeks combined high-intensity interval training, n = 15). Before and after the intervention, serum cytokines' concentration was measured by ELISA technique. Results. - The body composition parameters did not significantly change in both groups. Inter-leukin (IL)-10 levels were increased significantly in comparison with both pre-testing (P = 0.008) and IG (P = 0.007) values. Also, there was a significant decrease in tumor necrosis factor-a levels compared to IG (P = 0.05). No statistically significant changes (P > 0.05) were found in interferon (IFN)-gamma (Delta% = -20.41), pentraxin 3 (Delta% = -13.57), and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) (Delta% = 24.02). However, FGF21 changes revealed a significant positive correlation with IL-10 (r = 0.65) and a significant negative correlation with IFN-gamma (r = 0.58). Although our exercise training protocol reduced the TLR4 activities and induced an anti-inflammatory environment, this impact seems to be not related to body fat changes, indicating the direct immunomodula-tory impact of exercise. More interventions are needed to evaluate the clinical implications of crosstalk between skeletal muscle, liver, adipose tissue, and inflammatory response. (c) 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.