Response of Sclerostin and Bone Turnover Markers to High Intensity Interval Exercise in Young Women: Does Impact Matter?

This study examined potential exercise-induced changes in sclerostin and in bone turnover markers in young women following two modes of high intensity interval exercise that involve impact (running) or no-impact (cycling). Healthy, recreationally active, females (n=20; 22.5±2.7 years) performed two exercise trials in random order: high intensity interval running (HIIR) on a treadmill and high intensity interval cycling (HIIC) on a cycle ergometer. Trials consisted of eight 1 min running or cycling intervals at ≥90% of maximal heart rate, separated by 1 min passive recovery intervals. Blood samples were collected at rest (pre-exercise) and 5 min, 1h, 24h, and 48h following each exercise trial. Serum was analyzed for sclerostin, cross linked telopeptide of type I collagen (CTXI), and procollagen type I amino-terminal propeptide (PINP). A significant time effect was found for sclerostin, which increased from pre-exercise to 5 min after exercise in both trials (100.2 to 131.6 pg/ml in HIIR; 102.3 to 135.8 pg/ml in HIIC, p<0.001) and returned to baseline levels by 1h, with no difference between exercise modes and no exercise mode-by-time interaction. CTXI did not significantly change following either trial. PINP showed an overall time effect following HIIR, but none of the post hoc pairwise comparisons were statistically significant. In young women, a single bout of high intensity exercise induces an increase in serum sclerostin, irrespective of exercise mode (impact versus no-impact), but this response is not accompanied by a response in either bone formation or resorption markers.