Effects of 30 min of aerobic exercise on gene expression in human neutrophils

Pediatric Exercise Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, University Children's Hospital, University of California Irvine, Orange, California Submitted 14 August 2007 ; accepted in final form 9 November 2007 Relatively brief bouts of exercise alter gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), but whether exercise changes gene expression in circulating neutrophils (whose numbers, like PBMCs, increase) is not known. We hypothesized that exercise would activate neutrophil genes involved in apoptosis, inflammation, and cell growth and repair, since these functions in leukocytes are known to be influenced by exercise. Blood was sampled before and immediately after 30 min of constant, heavy ( 80% peak O 2 uptake) cycle ergometer exercise in 12 healthy men (19–29 yr old) of average fitness. Neutrophils were isolated using density gradients; RNA was hybridized to Affymetrix U133+2 Genechip arrays. With false discovery rate (FDR)