Acute exercise boosts NAD + metabolism of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized crossover trial supplemented by a longitudinal exercise trial in humans
PubMed 39500416 · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.004
What was done
Researchers evaluated how acute exercise affects nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) metabolism in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) across two trials in young adults. First, a randomized crossover trial of 24 participants (12 female) compared high-intensity interval training (HIIT) against moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) to measure gene expression and protein abundance of key NAD+ enzymes. Second, a longitudinal exercise trial in 12 participants (6 female) evaluated PBMC NAD+ salvage pathway dynamics, intracellular NAD+ concentrations, NAMPT expression, and serum nicotinamide levels.
What was found
The abstract reports directional changes without specific numerical values, percentages, or effect sizes. Acute exercise increased PBMC gene expression and protein abundance of several key NAD+ metabolic enzymes, showing high conformity between HIIT and MICT. NAMPT gene expression increased markedly during exercise, accompanied by elevated intracellular PBMC NAD+ levels and decreased serum nicotinamide concentrations.
Why it matters
While exercise-induced NAD+ upregulation was previously demonstrated predominantly in skeletal muscle, this study shows that acute exercise also mobilizes NAD+ biosynthesis in circulating immune cells, linking physical exertion to human immunometabolism.
Limits
The abstract reports no exact numerical data, baseline values, or confidence intervals. Total sample size is small (n=24 and n=12) and limited strictly to young adults, leaving applicability to older adults or clinical populations unmeasured. Clinical and functional immune outcomes following these cellular metabolic shifts were not evaluated.
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