Abstract

Background and purpose: TNFα, CRP, and IL-6 are new cardiovascular inflammatory markers that an increase in their concentration results in an increase in cardiovascular diseases. This study is designed to compare the effect of a single acute exercise on plasma TNFα, CRP and IL-6 in immature obese and normal-weight boys. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental study was designed and 21 healthy boy students of 11-14 years old were selected based on systematic randomization. Then, they were assigned into two groups of obese (77.07 ± 17.33 kg) and normal-weight boys (54.7 ± 8.28 kg). After a five-minute warm-up, every participant started cycling on ergometer cycle with 65-70% of his maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) for 40 minutes, and then he ended his exercise with a five-minute cool-down. Blood samples were taken before, immediately and one hour after exercise to measure TNFα, HS-CRP, and IL-6 levels. Data were analyzed using the independent T-test, analysis of variance with repeated measures (R-ANOVA) test, and the LSD post hoc test. Results: It was shown that the level of CRP, TNFα, and IL-6 in obese boys were significantly higher than that of the normal-weight group in all three times of measurement (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that exercise with 65-70% of VO2 max can increase inflammatory factors in immature obese and normal-weight boys. Thus, exercise can stimulate their inflammatory and immune responses and increase the level of some of the mentioned markers. Key words: Immature boys, acute exercise, interlokin-6, C-reaction protein, TNFα