Differential inflammatory response of men and women subjected to an acute resistance exercise

Background

The purpose of this study was to investigate the inflammatory response, lipid peroxidation and muscle damage in men and women athletes subjected to an acute resistance exercise.

Methods

Twenty college athletes (10 men and 10 women) performed a half-squat exercise consisting of five incremental intensities: 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of the one-repetition maximum. Blood samples were collected at rest, 15 min and 24 h post-test. The concentration of lipid peroxidation markers and the activities of a skeletal muscle damage marker and a cardiac muscle damage marker were determined in serum. Serum α-actin was measured as a marker of sarcomere damage. Serum levels of interleukin-6, interleukin-10, and tumor necrosis factor alpha were determined to assess the inflammatory response.

Results

Interleukin-6 levels were higher at 24 h post-test than at rest and 15 min post-test in men (p < 0.05). Moreover, men showed significantly higher hydroperoxide levels in response to resistance exercise at 24 h post-test than at 15 min post-test (p < 0.05). No differences were found in muscle damage parameters regardless of sex or the time point of the test. No differences regarding the studied variables were found when comparing among different time points in women.

Conclusion

Our results show a larger influence of half-squat exercises on the release of IL6 and on lipid peroxidation in men than in women at equivalent workloads.

Differential IL 10 serum production between an arm-based and a leg-based maximal resistance test

Bench press (i.e. arm-based) and half-squat (i.e. leg-based) are exercises commonly used to increase and evaluate muscular strength. In addition to differences in the location of the muscles that participate in each exercise, the total muscle mass required for the latter is larger than that involved in the former. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of a maximal incremental strength test when performed by bench press and by half-squat on myocellular damage, oxidative damage and the inflammatory cytokine response. Ten male athletes were subjected to half-squat and bench press incremental strength tests. Blood samples were collected at rest, 15-minutes and 24 h post-test. Hydroperoxide and malondialdehyde concentrations were determined as lipid peroxidation markers. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB) activities were determined as markers of muscle damage. α-Actin concentration was determined as a marker of sarcomeric damage. Serum interleukin (IL) 6, IL10, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) were determined to assess the inflammatory response. LDH and CK-MB values were greater at 15 min and 24 h post bench press exercise (p < 0.05). No differences were found in lipid peroxidation or α-actin. Interestingly, IL10 values were greater in response to the press bench at 24 h post-test (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that, at equivalent workloads, an arm-based exercise induced higher anti-inflammatory effects and more severe muscle damage compared with a leg-based exercise.