Impact of commonly prescribed exercise interventions on platelet activation in physically inactive and overweight men

The exercise paradox infers that, despite the well-established cardioprotective effects of repeated episodic exercise (training), the risk of acute atherothrombotic events may be transiently increased during and soon after an exercise bout. However, the acute impact of different exercise modalities on platelet function has not previously been addressed. We hypothesized that distinct modalities of exercise would have differing effects on in vivo platelet activation and reactivity to agonists which induce monocyte-platelet aggregate (MPA) formation. Eight middle-aged (53.5 ± 1.6 years) male participants took part in four 30 min experimental interventions (aerobic AE, resistance RE, combined aerobic/resistance exercise CARE, or no-exercise NE), in random order. Blood samples were collected before, immediately after, and 1 h after each intervention, and incubated with one of three agonists of physiologically/clinically relevant pathways of platelet activation (thrombin receptor activating peptide-6 TRAP, arachidonic acid AA, and cross-linked collagen-related peptide xCRP). In the presence of AA, TRAP, and xCRP, both RE and CARE evoked increases in MPAs immediately post-exercise (P < 0.01), whereas only AA significantly increased MPAs immediately after AE (P < 0.01). These increases in platelet activation post-exercise were transient, as responses approached pre-exercise levels by 1 h. These are the first data to suggest that exercise involving a resistance component in humans may transiently increase platelet-mediated thrombotic risk more than aerobic modalities.