Regular Exercise Training Increases the Number of Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Decreases Homocysteine Levels in Healthy Peripheral Blood |
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Authors: | Jeong Kyu Choi Ki Myung Moon Seok Yun Jung Ji Yong Kim Sung Hyun Choi Da Yeon Kim Songhwa Kang Chong Woo Chu Sang Mo Kwon |
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Affiliation: | 1.Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea.;2.Department of Surgery, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea.;3.Immunoregulatory Therapeutics Group in Brain Busan 21 Project, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea. |
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Abstract: | Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are known to play an important role in the repair of damaged blood vessels. We used an endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming assay (EPC-CFA) to determine whether EPC numbers could be increased in healthy individuals through regular exercise training. The number of functional EPCs obtained from human peripheral blood-derived AC133 stem cells was measured after a 28-day regular exercise training program. The number of total endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (EPC-CFU) was significantly increased compared to that in the control group (p=0.02, n=5). In addition, we observed a significant decrease in homocysteine levels followed by an increase in the number of EPC-CFUs (p=0.04, n=5), indicating that the 28-day regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC colonies and decrease homocysteine levels. Moreover, an inverse correlation was observed between small-endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (small-EPC-CFUs) and plasma homocysteine levels in healthy men (r=-0.8125, p=0.047). We found that regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC-CFUs and decrease homocysteine levels, thus decreasing the cardiovascular disease risk in men. |
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Keywords: | Endothelial progenitor cells EPC Exercise Homocysteine Regular exercise training |
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