REVERSE CHOLESTEROL TRANSPORT WITH ACUTE EXERCISE

Physical activity has been shown to be inversely related to coronary h eart disease (CHD). The role of high density lipoprotein (HDL) particl es in the process of reverse cholesterol transport may be a fink betwe en exercise and the prevention of CHD. The aim of the present study wa s to evaluate the effects of acute exercise on cholesterol efflux (C-E F) from human monocyte derived macrophages overloaded with cholesterol and subsequently incubated with HDL fractions isolated from plasma. T en males; five sedentary (NR) and five runners (R) exercised 30 min on a cycle ergometer at 60% of maximum oxygen consumption. HDL-C was hig her in R when compared with NR (49.2 +/- 2.6 vs 36.8 +/- 4.6 mg-dl-1; P < 0.05). Plasma lipid profiles did not differ between groups and wer e unchanged with exercise. C-EF was higher to HDL obtained from NR com pared with R before exercise (1.05 +/- 0.17 vs 0.59 +/- 0.09 mug/mg pr otein, P < 0.05). Acute exercise increased HDL's ability to act as an acceptor of cellular cholesterol in R, whereas it decreased in NR. The se preliminary studies suggest that functional changes in HDL fraction s may differ in NR and R, and appear to be influenced by acute exercis e.