Improvements in Aerobic Fitness With Exercise Training: the Role of Myokines

NCT06141512 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UStirling
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 21
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

For both healthy adults and patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), aerobic fitness (V̇O2max) is a stronger predictor of the risk of future chronic disease and premature death than other established risk factors such as hypertension, smoking, or Type 2 diabetes. It is important to improve the understanding of the regulation of V̇O2max to enable optimisation of interventions aimed at increasing V̇O2max in the current predominantly sedentary population. Currently, only exercise training is a viable method for increasing V̇O2max. However, \~10-20% of people who follow fully supervised, standardised training interventions do not demonstrate a measurable increase in V̇O2max. Low response to training is a clinically relevant concern, but the large variability in response to exercise training also provides an opportunity to dissect out the molecular mechanisms responsible for adaptations to V̇O2max by contrasting low vs. high responders to training. It has been previously demonstrated that low responders for VO2max fail to up regulate a number of genes that encode putative 'myokines', while the high responders demonstrated a significant increase in the expression of these genes, suggesting these myokines may play an important mechanistic role in modulating VO2max. The aim of the present study is to examine whether low responders for VO2max have an attenuated increase in the plasma levels of the previously identified myokines.

Conditions

General Health

Keywords

VO2max; Myokine; Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Training induced changes in VO2max

  Maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) will be measured pre- and post-training to determine the change in VO2max.

  Pre-intervention and 3 days post-intervention

• Training induced changes in plasma myokines

  Plasma myokine levels of 8 myokines will be measured pre- and post-training to determine the change in plasma myokine levels.

  Pre-intervention and 3 days post-intervention

Study Arms (1)

Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT)

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants complete 6 weeks (3 sessions/week) of an exercise intervention labelled 'REHIT'. Exercise sessions involve 10 minutes of unloaded cycling interspersed with 2 x 20 sec 'all-out' sprints against a resistance of 7.5% of participant's body weight. Sprints begin at 1:40 min and 5:40 min.

Behavioral: Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT)

Interventions

Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT) BEHAVIORAL

Description same as Arm description.

Also known as: Sprint interval training (SIT)

Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: male
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Male
• Age ≥ 18 y or \<40 y
• BMI \< 35 kg/m2
• otherwise healthy, untrained individuals

You may not qualify if:

• Age \<18 y or \>40 y
• BMI \> 35 kg/m2
• classification of 'highly physically active' according to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
• answering 'yes' to one or more questions on a standard Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
• resting heart rate ≥100bpm, clinically significant hypertension (140/90 mmHg)
• a personal history of metabolic or cardiovascular disease
• Female participants because of unknown effects of the menstrual cycle on the levels of the measured myokines.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Stirling: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Stirling

Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

High-Intensity Interval Training

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Physical Conditioning, Human; Exercise; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Niels Vollaard, PhD

  University of Stirling

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: All participants will undergo the same exercise training intervention. Based on the outcome measure of VO2max, participants will be divided into groups with a low response for VO2max, a medium response, and a high response for VO2max. It will be investigated whether the change in plasma myokine levels differs between the 3 groups.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 13, 2023
• First Posted: November 21, 2023
• Study Start: October 23, 2023
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2024
• Study Completion: June 1, 2025
• Last Updated: April 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)