Introduction: Irisin is a myokine that has been proposed to exert anti-obesity benefits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute aerobic exercise on plasma Irisin level, insulin resistance and lipid profile in obese and normal weight women.
Methods: In this semi-experimental study with pretest–posttest design, 12 obese women (BMI: 32.4 kg.m^2, age: 27.5 yr) and 12 normal weight women (BMI: 20.9 kg.m^2, age: 25.4 yr) participated. After measuring the maximal uptake oxygen of participants, they did acute endurance exercises using treadmill. After at least 8-hour-fasting, blood samples including before, immediately and one hour after activity samples were collected to measure the levels of irisin, glucose, insulin and lipid profile. Data analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: At baseline, irisin (p=0.01) and HDL (p=0.05) level was greater in normal-weight than obese women. Plasma irisin increased above baseline immediately after exercise (p=0.03) with no differences between obese and normal weight women (p=0.23). Blood glucose (p=0.01) and insulin resistance (p=0.04) decreased immediately after exercise, while insulin resistance improvement was greater in obese than in normal-weight women (p=0.02).
Conclusions: A single bout of endurance exercise induces improvements in circulating irisin concentrations and insulin resistance in obese and normal weight women.