Naser Rabbani - Department of Sports Physiology, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
Farzaneh Taghian - Department of Sports Physiology, School of Sports Sciences, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Background: Athletes and people participating in sports activities are at risk due to the inhalation of pollutants. This study aimed to compare the effect of one session of aerobic exercise in clean and polluted air on the response of some inflammatory factors in active people.Methods: ۱۰ active men with at least three years of regular exercise training were selected. Their blood samples were collected on two separate days, in polluted air with an air quality index (Air quality index, or AQI) of ۱۲۰ in the alert state (orange) and ۵۹ days later in clean air with an AQI of ۵۲ in a clean state (yellow), before, immediately after conducting a block field test, with an intensity of ۶۹-۵۵% of maximal heart ratem, and ۲۴ hours after the activity in a sitting position, on the chair and from a left brachial vein, to determine the amounts of IL-۶ and C-reactive protein by ELISA method. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used.Results: The levels of IL-۶ immediately after exercise and ۲۴ hours after exercise in polluted air showed a significant increase compared to clean air. Although C-reactive protein levels increased after exercise with exposure to high concentrations of pollutants, this increase was not statistically significant.Conclusion: Aerobic exercise subjected to a high concentration of pollutants compared to clean air causes a significant increase in serum levels of some cardiovascular disease predictive factors, such as interleukin-۶ and C-reactive protein.

Polluted air, pollution index, interleukin-۶, C-reactive protein, Aerobic exercise