The Potential Role of Resistance Exercise on Inflammasome Activation and Cytokines Levels in Obese Subjects

Obesity is a metabolic condition with a high worldwide prevalence. It is characterized by low-grade chronic inflammation and high cytokines level as consequence of the excessive accumulation of adipose tissue. The NLRP3 protein is part of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a multiprotein complex related to inflammation and the risk of developing metabolic disorders. In this sense, the evidence has been suggested that physical exercise could reduce the inflammation through the downregulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. The aim of this study is evaluate the effect of resistance exercise on NLRP3 and IL-18 gene expression and and IL-18 and IL-1b cytokines levels in obese subjects. This is an experimental study with 3 months of follow up. Participants were randomized into two intervention groups: a) group with resistance exercise plus hypocaloric diet, and b) group with hypocaloric diet. The exercise program was design by certified personal trained, and consisted in 3 phases: conditioning, development and maintenance. Dietary information was collect by validated retrospective questionnaires (24-hour record and 3-days dietary diary) and analyzed in Nutritionist Pro software. Body composition was evaluated by bioimpedance. The biochemical analyzes were performed on serum sample using spectrophotometry equipment. RNA was obtained from leukocytes from peripheral blood, cDNA synthesis was performed with a ThermoFisher kit, and the expression assay was performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using Taqman probes with the 2-ΔΔcq relative quantification method. Cytokines quantification were perform using a commercial ELISA kit. Statistical analysis will be using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.25) software and a value of p<0.05 will be considered statistically significant.