Elsevier

Neurologic Clinics

Volume 24, Issue 3, August 2006, Pages 585-599
Neurologic Clinics

Exercise, Inflammation, and Innate Immunity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncl.2006.03.008Get rights and content

Section snippets

The emerging importance of innate immunity in disease

The initial phases of an organism's response to infection depend on the innate immune response [17]. This response encompasses a variety of mechanisms that recognize and respond to pathogens. The innate immune system may be activated by several different mechanisms including exposure to microorganisms, food ingestion, or any other situation in which human beings are exposed to their external environment [18]. Moreover, tissue necrosis and extracellular release of cellular contents including

Exercise, macrophages, and inflammation

Both epidemiologic and longitudinal data suggest that increasing physical activity is an effective means of reducing systemic low-level inflammation in conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, as well as in healthy aged individuals. Moreover, there is evidence indicating that exercise can also reduce acute inflammation.

Exercise reduces adiposity

Adipose tissue now is classified as an endocrine organ, because it secretes a wide variety of hormones and inflammatory mediators [53]. Accordingly, it has been hypothesized that the negative relationship between exercise training and systemic inflammation might result from the weight loss (eg, fat loss) effect of exercise. In fact, BMI [54], [55] and, more specifically, percentage fat mass [56], [57], [58] have been associated positively with several of the inflammatory markers (ie, TNF-α,

Summary

Regular exercise is protective against several chronic diseases ranging from physiologic diseases such as cardiovascular disease to neurologic diseases such as dementia and depression. Exciting recent research points to chronic inflammation as an underlying contributor to many age-related chronic diseases. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in animals and humans have shown both an acute and a chronic anti-inflammatory effect. Because innate immunity is a key regulator of inflammatory

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