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Effect of Heat on Serum and Plasma Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor During Aerobic Exercise
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine temperature related effects on BDNF during aerobic exercise in different environmental conditions along with differences between serum and plasma BDNF. Methods: Six recreationally active college aged men (26 3 years) completed a VO2max test (48.6 5.7 mL/kg/min) and performed experimental trials in 35C at 45% humidity (HT/MH) and 22C at 45% humidity (MT/MH). During each trial, participants cycled for 60-minutes at 60% of VO2max, rested for 15-minutes, cycled until exhaustion at 90% VO2max, then recovered for 60-minutes. Blood was obtained before exercise (PRE), after 60 minutes of cycling (60), after the TTE (90), and after recovery (REC). Serum and plasma BDNF were assessed via ELISA, while data was analyzed using a mixed model regression, with significance defined as 0.05. Results: There was no significant condition by time interaction (F = 0.602, p = 0.618) nor main effect of condition (F = 1.792, p = 0.189) or time (F = 1.949, p = 0.139) for serum BDNF concentrations. There was also no significant condition by time interaction (F = 0.272, p = 0.845) nor main effect of condition (F = 0.415, p = 0.523) or time (F = 1.070, p = 0.373) for plasma BDNF concentrations. Conclusions: This data suggests high temperature does not have an effect on the BDNF response in serum or plasma concentrations. Nor does this study give evidence to an upregulation of BDNF concentrations due to aerobic exercise, though further work is warranted.