30-minutes Of Aerobic Exercise Elicits A Decrease In Lipid Mediators

Acute exercise is known to increase reactive oxygen species and alter downstream inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers. Little is known about changes in a lipid mediator (LM) profile following exercise, including linoleic and arachidonic acids and downstream eicosanoids synthesized through cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase, cytochrome P450, and oxidative stress pathways. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of acute aerobic exercise on LMs in healthy adults. METHODS: A submaximal graded treadmill test to 85% HRmax followed by linear extrapolation of HR and VO2 was used to determine subjects’ predicted VO2 max. They then completed a 30-minute session at 75% of VO2 max. Venous blood was collected pre- and 15 minutes post-exercise, spun to plasma, and snap-frozen for later analysis via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). A targeted analysis of 65 metabolites, including eicosanoids, was completed. A simple linear mixed-effects model was run on R 4.4.1 to test the impact of exercise on LMs with subject as a random effect. Age, sex, and VO2 max were used as covariates in the analysis. Summary data is presented as mean ± SD, with a significance of p < 0.05. RESULTS: 47 subjects, including 23 females (31.7 ± 11.5 years, VO2 max 39.8 ± 7.8 mL/kg/min) and 24 males (31.3 ± 12.4 years, VO2 max 54.0 ± 7.8 mL/kg/min) completed the 30-minute session. In response to exercise, 35 metabolites from multiple synthetic pathways were changed, with 12 decreasing and 1 increasing by 50 + %. Linoleic acid was decreased for females (17977.6 ± 5477.6 vs. 15142.3 ± 8337.0, p = 0.015) and males (17688.1 ± 6014.9 vs. 15055.8 ± 6253.0, p = 0.029) following exercise, while no change for arachidonic acid was observed (p > 0.05) for either gender. A decrease (5390.0 ± 2244.8 vs. 2727.8 ± 1516.8, p < 0.001; 5614.7 ± 2885.8 vs. 4222.3 ± 3311.9, p < 0.001) in 8-isoprostaglandin F2𝝰;; was seen in females and males, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a single bout of moderate-intensity exercise resulted in significant changes in LMs associated with inflammation. The observed decreases in specific lipid metabolites indicate that an acute, moderate-intensity exercise may lead to lowering of a broad spectrum of LM that may reflect decreased synthesis or increased clearance. Supported by: Funded by Cotton Incorporated project #22-070