Influence of 12-Week Concurrent Training on Exosome Cargo and Its Relationship with Cardiometabolic Health Parameters in Men with Obesity

Abstract

Exosome release varies depending on the physiological state of the cell, so they could play a fundamental role in obesity, the biggest pandemic in today’s societies. The beneficial effects that physical activity has both on weight and cardiovascular parameters may be mediated by exosomes released in response to exercise. Thus, we aimed (I) to study the influence of a 12-week CT intervention on exosome cargo modifications in men with obesity and (II) to determine whether changes in exosomes after the intervention were related to changes in cardiometabolic health parameters in our cohorts. An experimental, controlled design was performed in twelve (nine with valid data) adult male obese patients (mean values: 41.6 years old, 97.6 kg and 32.4 kg/m2) who were randomly divided into a control group (n = 4) and a training group (n = 5), which completed 36 sessions of CT (concurrent training) for 12 weeks. Before and after the training period, cardiometabolic health parameters were evaluated and blood samples to measure exosomes and proteins were drawn. No changes were observed in the levels of any exosomal markers and proteins; however, associations of changes between CD81 and both fat mass and weight, Flot-1 and VO2max, HSP70 and both CRP and left ventricle diastolic diameter or CD14 and leptin were found (all p ≤ 0.05). Although the current CT was not able to clearly modify the exosome cargo, a certain medium to large clinical effect was manifested considering the nature of this study. Moreover, the associations found between the promoted changes in cardiometabolic parameters and exosome-carried proteins could indicate a relationship to be considered for future treatments in patients with obesity.