BACKGROUND/AIMS

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute and chronic exercise on plasma nesfatin-1 levels in young adults.

MATERIAL and METHODS

Sixteen young adult male university students were recruited to participate in this study. Blood samples were taken from the subjects at the beginning of the study and after the training program both at rest and immediately after acute exhausting exercise. The subjects performed cycling exercises for 40–60 minutes, 3 days a week for 8 weeks at 60%–80% of maximal heart rate. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BFP) and maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) were determined before and after the 8-week training program. Plasma nesfatin-1 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using commercial kits. The effects of chronic and acute exercise before and after the training program were examined by analysis of variance with two-factor repeated measures. In this study, SPSS 16.0 statistical program was used to evaluate the data and the level of significance was accepted as <0.05.

RESULTS

Cycling exercises had no impact on body weight, BMI and VO2max (p>0.05), but BFP decreased significantly (p<0.05). Acute and chronic exercise had no significant impact on plasma levels of nesfatin-1 (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

We observed no significant differences in plasma nesfatin-1 levels in response to acute or chronic exercise among young adult male students. However, chronic exercise had a significant impact on BFP.

Keywords: Acute exercise, chronic exercise, Nesfatin-1