Immunoregulation induced by autologous serum collected after acute exercise in obese men: a randomized cross-over trial

In this study, we evaluated the effects of autologous serum collected after two types of exercise on the in vitro inflammatory profile and T cell phenotype of resting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in obese men. Serum samples and PBMCs were obtained from eight obese men who performed two exercise bouts-high intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and exhaustive exercise session to voluntary fatigue-in a randomized cross-over trial. Pre-exercise PBMCs were incubated with 50% autologous serum (collected before and after each exercise bout) for 4 h. In vitro experiments revealed that post-HIIE serum reduced the histone H4 acetylation status and NF-kappa B content of PBMCs and suppressed the production of both TNF-alpha and IL-6 by PBMCs, while increasing IL-10 production. Post-exhaustive exercise serum induced histone H4 hyperacetylation and mitochondrial depolarization in lymphocytes and increased TNF-alpha production. In vitro post-HIIE serum incubation resulted in an increase in the frequencies of CD4+CTLA-4+and CD4+CD25+ T cells expressing CD39 and CD73. Post-exhaustive exercise serum decreased the frequency of CD4+CD25+CD73+ T cells but increased CD4+CD25-CD39+T cell frequency. Both post-exercise serums increased the proportions of CD4+PD-1+and CD8+PD-1+ T cells. Blood serum factors released during exercise altered the immune response and T cell phenotype. The type of exercise impacted the immunomodulatory activity of the post-exercise serum on PBMCs.