Abstract
Background
Elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglyceride concentrations are associated with future cardiovascular risk in young adults. Conversely, chronic physical activity is generally accepted to reduce CVD risk. Atherosclerosis is a major underlying cause of CVD, and atherogenesis is mediated by peripheral monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages. The study aimed to determine if an individual’s physical activity level impacts the phenotype of monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages when stimulated with LDL and fatty acid ex vivo.
Methods
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from healthy, young adults of differing physical activity levels before and after a single bout of moderate intensity exercise (25 min at 60% of VO2peak). PBMCs were stimulated with LDL and palmitate ex vivo prior to differentiation into macrophages. Monocyte subset percentages and monocyte-derived macrophage expression of phenotypic (CD86, CD206) and functional (CCR2, ERK 1/2) markers were evaluated by flow cytometry.
Results
Compared to baseline, ex vivo LDL and palmitate stimulation decreased (p = 0.038) non-classical monocyte percentage from 24.7 ± 3.2 to 21.5 ± 2.6% in all participants. When ex vivo lipid stimulation was preceded by acute exercise, non-classical monocyte percentage was similar to baseline levels (p = 0.670, 25.8 ± 2.15%). Macrophage CD86/CD206 was increased from 1.30 ± 0.14 to 1.68 ± 0.19 when preceded by acute exercise in all participants. No differences were observed between participants of differing physical activity levels.
Conclusions
Findings suggest that acute exercise modulates monocyte phenotype after LDL and palmitate stimulation in a protective manner, however, chronic physical activity does not alter monocyte/macrophage responses to any experimental condition in this population.
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Data Availability
De-identified data are available upon request.
Abbreviations
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- BPM:
-
Beats per minute
- BSA:
-
Bovine serum albumin
- CCR2:
-
C-c motif chemokine receptor-2
- CVD:
-
Cardiovascular disease
- DMEM:
-
Dulbecco’s modified eagle’s media
- ERK:
-
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase
- FBS:
-
Fetal bovine serum
- FMO:
-
Fluorescence minus one
- HR:
-
Heart rate,
- LDL:
-
Low-density lipoprotein
- MET:
-
Metabolic equivalent of task
- MFI:
-
Mean fluorescent intensity
- PBMC:
-
Peripheral blood mononuclear cell
- RER:
-
Respiratory exchange ratio
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- SEM:
-
Standard error of mean
- VO2 :
-
Oxygen consumption
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LNP: conducted experiments, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. AMB: conceived and designed research, contributed analytical tools. NB: conducted experiments. VM: conducted experiments. RLF: conceived and designed research, conducted experiments, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by Fabio fischetti.
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The authors would like to thank the student assistants Lindsay LaFratta, Thomas Wagamon, Mabel Sisk, Morgan Senter, and Attiya Shah, for their assistance in collecting participant data and preparing laboratory samples for analysis.
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Pedersen, L.N., Blanks, A.M., Bohmke, N.J. et al. Acute, but not chronic, aerobic exercise alters the impact of ex vivo LDL and fatty acid stimulation on monocytes and macrophages from healthy, young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 975–988 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05131-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05131-x