Responses of Angiogenic Regulators to Resistance Exercise Under Systemic Hypoxia

Kon, M, Ikeda, T, Homma, T, and Suzuki, Y. Responses of angiogenic regulators to resistance exercise under systemic hypoxia. J Strength Cond Res 35(2): 436-441, 2021-Resistance exercise and hypoxia powerfully affect the secretions of angiogenic regulators. However, the effects of resistance exercise under acute systemic hypoxia on circulating levels of angiogenic regulators are unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effects of resistance exercise under systemic hypoxia on angiogenic regulator responses. Twelve healthy male subjects completed 2 experimental trials: (a) resistance exercise under normoxia (NRE), and (b) resistance exercise under systemic hypoxia (13% oxygen) (HRE) using a hypoxic generator. The subjects performed 2 consecutive resistance exercises (bench press and bilateral leg press), consisting of 5 sets with 10 repetitions at 70% of 1 repetition maximum with a 1-minute rest between sets. Serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, and endostatin concentrations were measured before exercise (and before exposure to hypoxia in the HRE trial) and at 0, 15, and 30 minutes after the resistance exercises. In both trials, serum VEGF, MMP-2, MMP-9, and endostatin concentrations significantly increased after the exercises compared with preexercise values (p < 0.05). At 0 minutes after exercise, the percentage change in VEGF concentration was significantly higher in the HRE trial compared with that in the NRE trial (p < 0.05). However, the exercise-induced changes in MMP-2, MMP-9, and endostatin concentrations did not differ between trials. The present results demonstrate that acute systemic hypoxia induces a greater resistance exercise-induced VEGF response, suggesting that hypoxia plays an important role in increasing the VEGF response to a bout of resistance exercise.