Moderate and intense exercise lifestyles attenuate the effects of aging on telomere length and the survival and composition of T cell subpopulations

Abstract

Studies indicate that exercise might delay human biological aging, but the effects of long-term exercise on T cell function are not well known. We tested the hypothesis that moderate or intense exercise lifestyle may attenuate the effects of aging on the telomere length and the survival and composition of T cell subpopulations. Elderly (65-85 years) with intense training lifestyle (IT, n = 15), moderate training lifestyle (MT, n = 16), and who never trained (NT, n = 15) were studied. Although the three groups presented the ageassociated contraction of the TCD4 + /TCD8 + naïve compartments and expansion of the memory compartments, both training modalities were associated with lower proportion of terminally differentiated (CD45RA + CCR7 neg ) TCD4 + and TCD8 + cells, although among the latter cells, the reduction reached statistical significance only with IT. MT was associated with higher proportion of central memory TCD4 + cells, while IT was associated with higher proportion of effector memory TCD8 + cells. However, both training lifestyles were unable to modify the proportion of senescent (CD28 neg ) TCD8 + cells. Telomeres were longer in T cells in both training groups; with IT, telomere length increased mainly in TCD8 + cells, whereas with MT, a modest increase in telomere length was observed in both TCD8 + and TCD4 + cells. Reduced commitment to apoptosis of resting T cells, as assessed by caspase-3 and Bcl-2 expression, was seen predominantly with IT.

Resistance Training and Redox Homeostasis: Correlation with Age-Associated Genomic Changes

“…Since previous studies have shown an increased apoptosis of immune system cells in aging [1], and that exercise can have anti-apoptotic effect that reduces cellular turnover and maintains telomere length [40], we investigated if EMRT could have an impact on the commitment of apoptosis in PBMCs. In agreement with Rodriguez Silva group [62], our exercise training did not affect the survival of circulating mononuclear cells. Indeed, the expression of antiapoptotic (Bcl-2) and pro-apoptotic (Bax, Caspase-3) proteins showed considerable intragroup variability and no significant differences between groups.…”

Exercise effects on perivascular adipose tissue: endocrine and paracrine determinants of vascular function

“…High intensity interval training (Rao et al ., ) in lean subjects increases the mobilization of the anti‐inflammatory regulatory T cells (Tregs) (Kruger et al ., ), as treatment of cultured human T‐cells with catecholamine reduced their secretion of inflammatory cytokines (TNF‐α, IL‐6, IL‐17, IL‐21 and IL‐22) (Alvarenga‐Filho et al ., ). Furthermore, exercise prevents TCD4+ and TCD8+ apoptosis, by increasing telomere length and decreasing annexin V, a marker of apoptosis (Silva et al ., ). Further investigations are necessary to address how exercise modulates survival and T‐cell subpopulations inside PVAT, as well as their cytokine release.…”

Lifelong training improves anti-inflammatory environment and maintains the number of regulatory T cells in masters athletes

“…The effects of exercise training on immunosenescence are inconsistent, probably due to differences in experimental design among these studies (Simpson et al 2012;de Araújo et al 2013;Silva et al 2016).…”