ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2023 January;63(1):162-9

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.22.13949-6

Copyright © 2022 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Changes in irisin, inflammatory cytokines and aerobic capacity in response to three weeks of supervised sprint interval training in older men

Jaak JÜRIMÄE ¹ ✉, Priit PURGE ¹, Liina REMMEL ¹, Jaan ERELINE ¹, Tatjana KUMS ¹, Sigitas KAMANDULIS ², Marius BRAZAITIS ², Tomas VENCKUNAS ², Mati PÄÄSUKE ¹

¹ Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; ² Institute of Sport Science and Innovations, Lithuanian Sport University, Kaunas, Lithuania

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the effects of supervised short-term sprint interval training (SIT) on circulating irisin, interleukin (IL)-6 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α concentrations, and aerobic capacity and body composition values in healthy older men.
METHODS: Eleven older men (63±8 years; 178.0±5.5 cm; 82.7±8.6 kg; 22.7±3.7% body fat) underwent SIT (6 repetitions of 30 s all-out cycling bouts with 4 min active recovery after each bout) three days a week for three consecutive weeks. Body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, aerobic capacity assessed by direct peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) test and morning fasting blood samples were obtained before and after a 3-week SIT intervention.
RESULTS: Nine supervised SIT sessions moderately (effect size [ES] =0.65; P<0.05) increased irisin concentrations (from 135.40±28.73 to 154.20±47.09 ng.mL^-1) together with moderate decreases (P<0.05) in IL-6 (ES=0.89; from 1.26±0.44 to 0.87±0.44 pg.mL^-1) and TNF-α (ES=0.64; from 5.10±1.23 to 4.31±1.20 pg.mL^-1) levels in older men. In addition, increase in VO2peak was significant but small (ES=0.25; P<0.05; from 36.0±7.1 to 37.8±6.7 mL.min.^-1kg^-1), while no changes (P>0.05) in body composition variables were observed after a short-term SIT period.
CONCLUSIONS: A 3-week SIT intervention with only nine training sessions increased circulating irisin concentrations, improved inflammatory profile and aerobic capacity without changes in body composition in healthy older men. Accordingly, a short-term SIT programme is a time efficient alternative for traditional aerobic training to improve metabolic health and aerobic capacity in older adults.

KEY WORDS: Cytokines; Body composition; High-intensity interval training