Acute Changes in Interleukin-6 Level During Four Days of Long-Distance Walking

• Published in: Journal of inflammation research Vol. 13; p. 871
• Main Authors: Soares, Viviane, de Avelar, Ivan Silveira, Venancio, Patricia Espindola Mota, Pires-Oliveira, Deise AA, de Almeida Silva, Pedro Henrique, Borges, Amanda Rodrigues, Fonseca, Gustavo Paz Estevez Ferreira, Noll, Matias
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press Limited 30-11-2020
• Subjects: Inflammation; Interleukins; Brazil; Illinois
• ISSN: 1178-7031; 1178-7031
• DOI: 10.2l47/JIR.S281113

Background: Interleukin 6 (IL-6) has an inflammatory effect, and its concentration in serum increases during exercise. However, no studies have assessed acute changes in IL-6 concentration after consecutive days of extreme and long-term exercise. Objective: This study aimed to assess acute changes in serum IL-6 concentration during four days of long-distance walking. Methods: This prospective observational study assessed 25 athletes (aged 44.8 [+ or -] 9.1 years), who covered a total of 251 km in four days. Blood samples were collected daily to assess serum IL-6 concentrations. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (with Bonferroni's post hoc test) and the Kruskal-Wallis H-test (with Dunn's post hoc test) were used to investigate the differences between the measures. Results: The serum IL-6 concentrations were higher on the four days of walking (1st day: 26.8 [+ or -] 14.8; 2nd day: 14 [+ or -] 7.4; 3rd day: 9.4 [+ or -] 10.8; 4th day: 4.5 [+ or -] 0.2 pg/mL) when compared to pre-walk values (pre-walk: 2.2 [+ or -] 2.1 pg/mL; p < 0.001). On the first day, there was a tenfold increase compared to the pre-walk value. Conclusion: The inflammatory response increased the serum concentration of IL-6 after four days of exercise. With the passing of days, there were reductions but not to baseline values. Keywords: exercise, long-distance walk, inflammation, biomarker, interleukin-6, athletes