Endurance Training Attenuates Acute Exercise-Induced Monocyte Transcriptomic Responses in Adolescents: Sex-Specific Molecular Adaptations.
Plaza-Florido A, Haddad F, Cooper DM, Radom-Aizik S. · Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2026
Background: Circulating monocytes contribute to atherogenesis and vascular dysfunction. Although clinical cardiovascular disease presents in adulthood, its biological origins often begin in youth and differ substantially between females and males.
Methods: Twelve males and nine females (14-17 years) completed an acute exercise protocol consisting of ten 2-min cycling bouts at 70% of maximal work rate interspersed with 1-min rest intervals, performed before and after an 8-week supervised endurance training intervention with brief supplementary strength work (60 min/session, 3 sessions/week). Blood was collected before and immediately after each exercise challenge. Peripheral blood monocytes were isolated and whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed.
Results: Prior to training, acute exercise induced a markedly greater monocyte transcriptomic response in females compared with males (5,135 vs. 567 differentially expressed transcripts, FDR
Conclusion: These
Findings: reveal sex-specific monocyte responses to acute exercise in youth and suggest that endurance exercise alters immune transcriptional responsiveness in pathways relevant to vascular and cardiovascular health.