Effects of intradialytic exercise on systemic cytokine in patients with chronic kidney disease

Background: Immunological dysfunctions and a pro-inflammatory environment are associated with higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Physical exercise can be an important anti-inflammatory strategy, but the effects in CKD remain poorly investigated. Objective: Evaluate the acute inflammatory response to intradialytic exercise in the peripheral blood of individuals with CKD. Methods: Nine patients, of both genders, with CKD and allocated in the ambulatory of hemodialysis of Hospital Ernesto Dornelles (Brazil), performed two sessions of hemodialysis (HD) in random form: aerobic intradialytic exercise sessions (EX, 20min of moderate exercise in cycle-ergometer) and a control hemodialysis session (CON). Peripheral blood collection was made at the baseline, during and immediately after HD to evaluate the cytokine profile: interleukin-6, interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin-17a (IL-17a), interferon-gamma (INF-) and tumoral necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-). Results: INF- decreased during HD when compared with the pre moment in both sessions, while an increase in post HD was only found in the CON session. IL-17 was higher in post when compared with during HD in both sessions. In addition to the time effect, IL-10 presented a timexgroup interaction and the relative changes were significantly higher in EX when compared with the CON session. The relative changes in TNF- tended to be higher in CON when compared with EX immediately post HD session. Conclusions: These data indicate that 20min of intradialytic exercise have modest effect in systemic inflammation. However, the significant increase in IL-10 may indicate an immunoregulatory effect of physical exercise.