The Comparison of Plasma IL-6 Level after Increasing Speed and

Inclination Gradually Treadmill Exercise

Sri Mardjiati Mei Wulan, Ditaruni Asrina Utami, Damayanti Tinduh

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dr. Soetomo General Hospital, Faculty of Medicine,

University of Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Interleukin-6, Speed, Inclination, Treadmill Exercise

Abstract: This study aimed to observe the effect of treadmill exercise with increasing speed and inclination gradually

to plasma IL-6 levels. Twenty adult men divided into speed (SG) and inclination groups (IG) running on a

treadmill EN_Mill 2007 for 30 minutes, three times per week in 2 weeks. SG started 5 km/h and increased 1

km/h every minute without inclination until the target heart rate is reached (70% MHR). IG started 3 km/h

with increasing of inclination 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15%, 20%, 22% every minute until target heart

rate is reached (70% MHR). Blood samples taken 30 minutes before and after exercise in first and last

training. Significantly decreased of plasma IL-6 levels in both groups before and after exercise at first

training (p=0.001) and before-after exercise at the last training (p=0,004) in SG, while in inclination group

plasma IL-6 levels before-after exercise showed no significant decreasing (p=0,107) at the last training. In

both groups, there is significant delta (Δ) of plasma IL-6 levels between before exercise at the first and last

training (p=0.001), between after exercise at the first and the last training (p=0.001). Plasma IL-6 levels

decrease with exercise either by increasing inclination or speed gradually.

1 INTRODUCTION

IL-6 is a pro-inflammatory regulator of exercise in

sedentary and active people, produced by

contracting muscles and released into the blood.

When at rest, subcutaneous and visceral adipose

tissues are the principal responsible for IL-6

production during physical exercise, on the contrary,

IL-6 production is sustained by the skeletal muscle

through intracellular signaling pathways. Depending

on the duration and intensity of exercise, plasmatic

IL-6 concentration increases exponentially. The

main source of IL-6 in the blood circulation in

response to acute exercise, but the response is not

apparent in trained subjects. The cytokine

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has evidence of its dual nature

of as an adipokine (i.e., adipose tissue-derived

cytokine) (Lyngsø et al, 2002) and as a myokine

(i.e., muscle-derived cytokine) has been a matter of

scientific debate (Pedersen and Febbraio, 2004). The

synthesis and secretion of IL-6 from skeletal muscle

contraction increases to 100 times from basal IL-6

levels, observations did at the end of exercise

(Penkowa et al., 2003). Plasma levels of IL-6 are

highly regulated by acute exercise, depending on

intensity, mode of exercise, and duration of physical

activity. This study planned to observe the effect of

treadmill exercise with increasing speed and

inclination gradually to plasma IL-6 levels. Can IL-6

be considered an anti-inflammatory marker in

moderate-intensity exercise with a treadmill?

2 MATERIAL AND METHODS

Twenty healthy young adult men BMI 18-22,9

kg/m

and willing to sign informed consent were

included. Ethical clearance: no.

0206/KEPK/IV/2018 by Ethical Committee

Soetomo General Academic Hospital. Subjects

divided into 2 groups, increasing inclination and

speed gradually treadmill exercise groups. The

exercise is walking on a treadmill EN_Mill 2007 for

30 minutes, with 5 minutes for warming up, 20

minutes core exercise and 5 minutes cooling down, 3

times per week for each group in 2 weeks. The speed

Wulan, S., Utami, D. and Tinduh, D.

The Comparison of Plasma IL-6 Level after Increasing Speed and Inclination Gradually Treadmill Exercise.

DOI: 10.5220/0009061700280031

In Proceedings of the 11th National Congress and the 18th Annual Scientiﬁc Meeting of Indonesian Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Association (KONAS XI and PIT XVIII PERDOSRI

2019), pages 28-31

ISBN: 978-989-758-409-1

exercise group started with 5km/h and increased

1km/h every 1 minute with no inclination until the

target heart rate is reached (70% maximal heart

rate). Inclination group started with 3km/h of speed

with increasing of inclination 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%,

12.5%, 15%, 20%, 22% every 1 minute until it

reaches the target heart rate (70% maximal heart

rate). We observed the immediate effect on plasma

IL-6 levels. The blood samples were taken 30

minutes before and after exercise at the first training,

the second blood samples taken 30 minutes before

and after exercise at the first and the last training at

the end of 2

week.IL-6 was assessed with R&D

BioSource ELISA kits (Invitrogen) according to the

manufacturer's instructions.

3 RESULTS

Statistical analysis all the data were first tested for

variance heterogeneity (by ANOVA test). We were

analyzed for each study group and within-group

changes in plasma IL-6level for significance by the

paired t-test.

Significant decreased of plasma IL-6 levels in

both groups before-after exercise at the first training

(p=0.001) and before-after exercise at the last

training (p=0.004), while in inclination group

plasma IL-6 levels before-after exercise showed no

significant decreasing of plasma IL-6 levels

(p=0.107) at the last training. In both groups, there is

significant delta ( Δ) of plasma IL-6 levels between

before exercise at the first and last training

(p=0.001), between after exercise at the first and the

last training (p=0.001).

Speed Group

Figure 1: Plasma IL-6 levels in Speed Group.

Inclination Group Figure 2: Plasma Il-6 levels in Inclination Group.

The Comparison of Plasma IL-6 Level after Increasing Speed and Inclination Gradually Treadmill Exercise

Table 1: Characteristics of subjects.

Groups Speed

(n=10)

Inclination

(n=10)

Age (years)

31.1



2.9 32.81.8

0.131

Body Weight (kg)

63.0



7.5 65.49.4

0.536

Body Height (cm)

168.7



7.4 168.59.4

0.952

BMI(kg/cm

)

22.1



1.5 22.91.9

0.271

IL-6 Pre Exercise1

61.6



9.9 56.66.3

0.193

4 DISCUSSION

It has been known that the pattern of physical

activity involves low levels of inflammation, which

is characterized by an increase in inflammatory

markers in the plasma such as IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1,

and other markers. The primary source of IL-6 in the

blood circulation from muscle contraction in

response to acute exercise. IL-6 and CRP reflect

regular physical activity (Fisher et al., 2007).

Cytokines can modulate metabolism, the

endocrine system, and coagulation (Febbraio et al.,

2004), produced and secreted by cells also tissues

that are not immune systems, such as fat tissue,

approximately 30% of IL-6 in circulation during

basal conditions, and can be regulated by physical

activity. At the end of the exercise, synthesis and

secretion of IL-6 from contracting skeletal muscle

increase to 100 times from basal IL-6 levels. Levels

of IL-6 and CRP are highly regulated by acute

exercise, depending on exercise intensity.

Furthermore, the basal level of IL-6 in circulation is

sensitive to the addition of duration of regular

physical activity. Another study reported that basal

IL-6 levels were lower in people whose lifestyle was

active.

This research showed that the plasma IL-6 level

as an inflammatory marker decrease significantly

after the exercise. It is proven that regular physical

activity lowers basal levels of IL-6 or 30 minutes of

exercise did not cause muscle injury so that the

production of IL-6 as an inflammatory marker

becomes low. The research of Pedersen et al. (2004)

showed a drastic decrease in IL-6 is associated with

decreased exercise capacity. Basal levels of IL-6 in

healthy people are expected to be low, so

populations with reduced lifestyle patterns such as

over-nutrition and lack of activity are associated

with increased levels of inflammatory markers

(Fisher et al., 2007). The subjects in this study

consisted of healthy people who were sedentary and

active so that the average plasma IL-6 level was high

(pre-exercise in both groups).

Since IL-6 is produced upon muscle contraction

(Pedersen and Febbraio, 2008), dynamic exercise

will elicit more significant hemodynamic changes

that contribute to increasing IL-6 to the blood

(Barnes et al., 2010). Thus IL-6 is produced a large

amount in contracting muscles and is released to the

circulation (Steensberg et al., 2002). In this study,

the level of plasma IL-6 of before exercise at the last

training, showed a significant reduction compared to

plasma IL-6 levels before exercise at the first

training, whereas between before-after exercise at

the last training also showed a significant decrease

in plasma IL-6level (speed group). Regular exercise

lowers and maintains the plasma IL-6 level, In this

study the regular exercise in the form of 3 times per

week for each group in 2 weeks with relatively the

same intensity, and may result in a similar reducing

of plasma IL-6 level (Febbraio et al., 2004).

5 CONCLUSION

Plasma IL-6 level decreased with exercise on a

treadmill either by increasing inclination or speed.

IL-6 as an anti-inflammatory marker in exercises

with moderate intensity treadmills

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The Comparison of Plasma IL-6 Level after Increasing Speed and Inclination Gradually Treadmill Exercise