The fluctuations of inmunometabolic responses during the different stages of pregnancy are essential for an adequate maternofetal homeostasis, and thus for a healthy and in-term pregnancy. However, an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines might lead to complicated pregnancies and adverse outcomes in the fetal development and in the maternal and child future health. In this regard, physical exercise might be a promising therapeutic tool to modulate these inflammatory responses and prevent complicated pregnancies. The emerging evidence emphasizing the importance of the skeletal muscle as an endocrine organ and its characteristic interplay with other organs via muscle contraction-induced factors (myokines) could partially explain the beneficial effects of physical exercise on immunometabolic health. However, this issue remains currently understudied in pregnancy, where these physical exercise-induced cytokines might play a fundamental role at the maternal-fetal interface.
Under the framework of the GESTAFIT project, we aimed to analyze for the first time the influence of a novel, well-designed and individually-tailored concurrent exercise program from the 17th week of gestation until delivery on inflammatory markers in maternal (at the 17th and the 35th gestational weeks and at delivery), and arterial and venous cord serum. The main findings suggest that this exercise program might reduce arterial cord IL-6 and venous cord TNF-α concentrations. Unexpectedly, pregnant women from the exercise group also showed higher concentrations of arterial cord IL-1β. Additionally, it seems that exercise might modulate fetal synthesis of IL-6 during parturition. Therefore, this study suggests that physical exercise might be a complementary-alternative intervention to modulate inflammatory responses in pregnant women and their fetuses.
Referencia completa:
Acosta-Manzano P, Coll-Risco I, Van Poppel MNM, et al. Influence of a Concurrent Exercise Training Intervention during Pregnancy on Maternal and Arterial and Venous Cord Serum Cytokines: The GESTAFIT Project. J Clin Med. 2019;8(11):1862. Published 2019 Nov 3. doi:10.3390/jcm8111862
