Irisin in blood increases transiently after single sessions of intense endurance exercise and heavy strength training

Irisin is a recently identified exercise-induced hormone that increases energy expenditure, at least in rodents. The main purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Irisin increases acutely in blood after singular sessions of intense endurance exercise (END) and heavy strength training (STR). Secondary, we wanted to explore the relationship between body composition and exercise-induced effects on irisin, and the effect of END and STR on muscular expression of the irisin gene FNDC5.

Nine moderately trained healthy subjects performed three test days using a randomized and standardized crossover design: one day with 60 minutes of END, one day with 60 minutes of STR, and one day without exercise (CON). Venous blood was sampled over a period of 24h on the exercise days.

Both END and STR led to transient increases in irisin concentrations in blood, peaking immediately after END and one hour after STR, before gradually returning to baseline. Irisin responses to STR, but not END, showed a consistently strong negative correlation with proportions of lean body mass. Neither END nor STR affected expression of FNDC5, measured 4h after training sessions, though both protocols led to pronounced increases in PGC-1α expression, which is involved in transcriptional control of FNDC5.

The results strongly suggest that single sessions of intense endurance exercise and heavy strength training lead to transient increases in irisin concentrations in blood. This was not accompanied by increased FNDC5 expression, measured 4h post-exercise. The results suggest that irisin responses to resistance exercise are higher in individuals with lower proportions of lean body mass.