Abstract
Introduction
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) taken before exercise have been shown to impair bone formation. NSAIDs also suppress inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), that can have pro-resorptive effects. It is unclear how taking NSAIDs timed around exercise influences inflammatory and bone biomarkers following an acute exercise bout in older adults.
Purpose
To determine if timing of ibuprofen use relative to a single exercise bout has acute effects on serum IL-6, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP, marker of bone formation), and c-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX, marker of bone resorption).
Methods
As part of a 36-week exercise intervention, participants aged 60 to 75 years were randomized to 3 groups: placebo before and after exercise (PP), ibuprofen before and placebo after exercise (IP), or placebo before and ibuprofen after exercise (PI). Acute responses were studied in a subset of participants (12 PP, 17 IP, 13 PI). Blood was sampled before and immediately, 30 min, and 60 min after exercise for IL-6, BAP, and CTX.
Results
The exercise-induced increase in IL-6 was blunted in response to IP when compared to PI 60-min after exercise (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the change in BAP or CTX between groups at any time points
Conclusion
Ibuprofen taken before exercise dampened the inflammatory response to exercise but had no effects on bone biomarkers in older adults. It may be necessary to monitor changes for a longer time interval after an acute exercise bout to determine whether bone turnover is altered by ibuprofen or other NSAIDs.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00462722; Posted 04/19/2007
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Data availability
Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions.
Abbreviations
- 1-RM :
-
1-Repition maximum
- ANOVA :
-
Analysis of variance
- BAP :
-
Bone alkaline phosphatase
- BMD :
-
Bone mineral density
- CCTSI :
-
Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
- COMIRB :
-
Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board
- COX :
-
Cyclooxygenase
- CTX :
-
C-telopeptide of type I collagen
- DXA :
-
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
- IL-6 :
-
Interleukin 6
- IP :
-
Ibuprofen before, placebo after
- NSAID :
-
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
- PGE 2 :
-
Prostaglandin E2
- PI :
-
Placebo before, ibuprofen after
- PP :
-
Placebo before, placebo after
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Funding
This study was supported in part by NIH awards R01 AG018857, UL1 TR002535 (Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute), and P30 DK048520 (Colorado Nutrition and Obesity Research Center).
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PW, RS, WK, CJ: Study design. WK, CJ: Study conduct and data collection. SW, PW, WK, CJ: Data analysis and interpretation. SW, PW, WK, CJ: Drafting manuscript. SW, PW, RS, WK, CJ: Revising manuscript content. SW, PW, RS, WK, CJ: Approving final version of manuscript. All data was collected in lab space supported by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Division of Geriatric Medicine. Blood samples were analyzed in the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) Core Lab of the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI).
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This protocol was approved by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB) under protocol number 06-0769.
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Communicated by Fabio fischetti .
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Wherry, S.J., Wolfe, P., Schwartz, R.S. et al. Ibuprofen taken before exercise blunts the IL-6 response in older adults but does not alter bone alkaline phosphatase or c-telopeptide. Eur J Appl Physiol 121, 2187–2192 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04691-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04691-8