MARATHON RUNNERS PRESENTED LOWER SERUM CHOLESTERYL ESTER TRANSFER ACTIVITY THAN SEDENTARY SUBJECTS

Acute exercise promotes raised HDL cholesterol concentrations by lipol ysis stimulation, but this effect is insufficient to explain the more permanent HDL increases seen during regular exercise. During training periods in a group of marathon runners, we measured lipid transfer pro tein I (LTP-I)-mediated cholesteryl ester transfer activity (CETA) and its relationship to their HDL concentrations. Runners of both sexes s howed significantly lower CETA values than those of sedentary controls . Male runners also had significantly lower serum concentrations of tr iglyceride, VLDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B, and significantly h igher concentrations of HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I than ma le controls. Results indicate that regular practice of aerobic exercis e promotes modifications of lipoprotein metabolism related not only to lipolysis, but also to lower CETA. Such modifications are associated with reduced risk of atherosclerosis.