Systemic myokine response to 20-min arm crank ergometer exercise in patients with cervical spinal cord injury

 

Hiroyuki Sugiyama¹, Kazunari Furusawa¹, Atsushi Ikeda¹, Midori Yamanaka², Tomoyuki Itoh², Hideki Goto², Ken Kouda², and Fumihiro Tajima²

¹Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kibikogen Rehabilitation Center for Employment Injuries, 7511 Yoshikawa, Kaga-gun, Kibichuo-cho, Okayama, 716-1241, Japan; ²Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, 811-1 Kimiidera Wakayama-shi, 641-8509, Japan

 

The plasma concentration of several cytokines may be also affected by exercise and interleukin-6 (IL-6) increases more dramatically than any other cytokine investigated to date.  The magnitude by which plasma IL-6 increases is related to exercise duration, intensity, the muscle mass involved in the mechanical work, and the endurance capacity. 

Persons with cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) develop muscle atrophy, especially in upper and lower extremities.  To investigate the pattern of IL-6 during and after exercise in CSCI, IL-6 responses to 20-min arm crank ergometer exercise at 60% of maximum oxygen consumption were studied in the persons with CSCI and able-bodied.  The plasma concentrations of IL-6 was measured before, immediately after the exercise, 1 h after exercise and 2 h after exercise.  The study included eight subjects with CSCI between C6 and C7 and six able-bodied persons.  In able-bodied subjects, the plasma IL-6 levels significantly increased 1 h after exercise (P < 0.05) and returned to the baseline level 2 h after exercise.  In contrast, IL-6 did not change throughout the study in subjects with CSCI.  In subjects with CSCI, unchangeable responses in the plasma IL-6 level throughout the experiment might be largely attributed to their muscle atrophy.

 

Key words: Spinal cord injury, Interleukin-6, Exercise