The effect of intense intermittent exercise on plasma levels of myostatin and IGF-1 in obese adolescents

 Myostatin and insulin-like growth factor play an important role in responding to muscle contractions, regulating and stimulating muscle metabolism. The aim of this study was to change plasma myostatin and IGF-1 to eight weeks of intense intermittent exercise in obese adolescents.  

 This study was a quasi-experimental study and 28 obese adolescents were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group performed a very intense intermittent training protocol for eight weeks and three sessions per week. In order to measure the plasma levels of myostatin and IGF-1, blood samples were taken in two stages in the fasting state, 48 hours before and after exercise. A correlated t-test was used for intra-group comparison and an independent t-test was used for comparison between groups.

  The results showed that after eight weeks of very intense interval training, plasma myostatin levels significantly decreased (P=0.001) and IGF-1 (P=0.013) compared to the control group.

According to the findings of the present study that a significant reduction of myostatin and the significant increase in IGF-1, high-intensity interval training can be used as a non-pharmacological strategy for prevention and improvement in obese adolescents.