Effects of Exercise on Systemic Inflammatory, Coagulatory, and Cardiac Autonomic Parameters in an Inhalational Exposure Study

Background: Intermittent moderate-intensity exercise is used in human inhalational exposure studies to increase the effective dose of air pollutants. Objective: To investigate the inflammatory, coagulatory, and autonomic effects of intermittent moderate-intensity exercise. Methods: We measured hemodynamic, electrocardiographic, inflammatory, and coagulatory parameters in peripheral blood of 25 healthy subjects across an exercise protocol that included running on a treadmill or pedaling a cycle ergometer for 30 minutes every hour over 4 hours in a climate-controlled chamber with a target ventilation of 20 L/min/m(2) body surface area. Results: Intermittent moderate-intensity exercise induced a systemic proinflammatory response characterized by increases in leukocyte counts, C-reactive protein, monocyte chemoattractant protein-I, and interleukin-6, but did not change coagulation tendency or heart rate variability. Conclusion: Interpretation of pollutant-induced inflammatory responses in inhalational exposure studies should account for signals and noises caused by exercise, especially when the effect size is small.