The Impact Of Acute Exercise On Expression Of Endocannabinoids In Youth

The Impact of Acute Exercise on expression of Endocannabinoids in Youth Exercise is well established as a physical, mental and cognitive health enhancing behavior. Recent research suggests that the endocannabinoid system (eCB), which plays an important role in stress response, may be influenced by exercise. Desai and colleagues (2010) posit that acute moderate intensity exercise among adult’s influences two key eCB markers, anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG). However, such effects among youth, as well as expanded exploration of additional eCB signaling markers, remain uninvestigated. PURPOSE: This study explored the impact of acute exercise (i.e., moderate-intensity treadmill walking, light-intensity stretching, seated meditation) on eCB plasma markers in youth. METHODS: Youth participants (N = 68) (54.4% male; Mage 13.2 yrs) were recruited and randomly assigned to a 30-minute session of (1) moderate-intensity treadmill walking, (2) light-intensity stretching, (3) seated meditation. Pre and post exercise blood samples (n = 44) were collected and immediately centrifuged, plasma was extracted, frozen and then transferred for analysis of eCBs. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to explore changes by condition (treadmill, stretching, meditation) and time (pre, post). RESULTS: There was no significant difference between groups and eCB plasma markers AEA, 2-AG, LEA, or OEA controlling for gender or age (p > 0.05). For PEA, there was a significant main effect of time (p = 0.0002) and time x group interaction (p = 0.01), but no significant main effect of group, controlling for gender and age (p > 0.05). For SEA, there was a significant main effect of time (p = 0.002) but no significant main effect of group, or time x group interaction, controlling for gender or age (p > .05). CONCLUSION: While research in adult population suggests that eCB plasma concentrations may be boosted from acute, moderate intensity bouts of exercise, our study was unable to replicate such findings in youth. This may suggest that eCB concentrations may be elicited differently among youth after acute bouts of exercise and may be sensitive to additional factors. Future research is needed to explore other potential mediating factors (i.e. exercise mode, duration, pubertal status) that may contribute to eCB expression among youth.