Acute and Chronic Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Serum Irisin, Adropin, and Cholesterol Levels in the Winter Season

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the acute and chronic effects of aerobic training performed indoors and outdoors on irisin, adropin, and cholesterol levels in winter. Thirty-two healthy males participated in this study. Participants were divided into two groups: outdoor group (n = 16) and indoor group (n = 16). They then performed 40-min aerobic running exercises 4 days/week for 18 weeks. The outdoor group trained at −5°C–5°C environmental temperature, while the indoor group trained at 21°C–25°C. Blood samples were collected before and after the 18-week training period and immediately after the first training. The results showed that single aerobic exercise induced minimal increase in serum irisin concentrations in both groups. In addition, irisin levels did not change in the outdoor group but significantly decreased in the indoor group after the 18-week training period. Aerobic exercise had no acute or chronic effects on serum adropin levels in the indoor group. However, the aerobic training caused a decrease in adropin levels chronically, but there was no acute effect after single aerobic exercise in the outdoor group. Furthermore, there was no acute effect on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total cholesterol after single aerobic exercise in both groups. However, after the 18-week training period, there was a significant increase in HDL-C levels in both groups. Moreover, the increase in HDL-C in the outdoor group was higher than in the indoor group. Thus, this study provides evidence for the beneficial chronic effects of aerobic exercise and cold on HDL-C levels as well as the beneficial acute effects on irisin concentrations.

Role of adropin in arterial stiffening associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes

“…It has been well documented that exercise exerts significant physiological adaptations that improve cardiometabolic health. A single bout of aerobic exercise, at approximately 60-80% maximal heart rate for up to 90 minutes, did not elicit a significant alteration in adropin (24,42,165). Furthermore, seven days of exercise training, 1 hour/day at 60% heart rate reserve, was not sufficient to impact adropin concentrations (138).…”

“…In response to the exercise interventions, adropin concentrations significantly increased by ~1-1.5ng/ml (14,15,24). However, Ozbay et al (42) did not find a difference in adropin concentrations with acute exercise or after 18 weeks of aerobic training in young healthy males.…”

“…It has been well documented that exercise improves glucose handling, insulin resistance, and endothelial health (41). Aerobic exercise training increases circulating adropin in obese adolescents (24) and obese elderly subjects (14), healthy middle-and old-aged subjects (15); however, this has not been a consistent finding (42). Zhang et al (24) utilized a class structure to implement their exercise protocol, with 12 weeks of exercise consisting of aerobic activities with jogging as the preferential form of exercise.…”

Long-Term Effect of Exercise on Irisin Blood Levels—Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…High-intensity interval training increased irisin in young, healthy males [41,60] and healthy young adults [43], military aerobic training [48] increased irisin blood levels in young, healthy males and one study with a single group design found a significant increase in irisin in young females after treadmill exercise [37]. On the other hand, cycle ergometer-sprint training, consecutive training [77] as well as indoor running [64] led to a decrease of irisin blood levels in young, healthy males, and the same effect was found after basketball training in healthy children [39] or after taekwondo training in obese children [70]. A decrease in irisin blood levels was also found after high-intensity interval training [56], CrossFit training [59], resistance training, and concurrent training [72] in healthy young females as well as after a structured group fitness program in pregnant females [75].…”

Irisin: A New Code Uncover the Relationship of Skeletal Muscle and Cardiovascular Health During Exercise

“…It has been reported that circulating irisin concentrations of young healthy adults increase significantly 30 min after an acute exercise (Huh et al, 2012). Furthermore, a single 40 min of aerobic running can induce minimal increase of serum irisin in both hot (21~25°C) and cold (−5~5°C) environment (Ozbay et al, 2020). Data from animal studies have found that the concentrations of serum irisin increase significantly in hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism rats after forced swimming with 5% of the weight-bearing body weight for 100 min (Samy et al, 2015).…”