Irisin in response to acute and chronic whole-body vibration exercise in humans

ObjectiveIrisin is a recently identified myokine, suggested to mediate the beneficial effects of exercise by inducing browning of white adipocytes and thus increasing energy expenditure. In humans, the regulation of irisin by exercise is not completely understood. We investigated the effect of acute and chronic whole-body vibration exercise, a moderate-intensity exercise that resembles shivering, on circulating irisin levels in young healthy subjects.Materials/MethodsHealthy untrained females participated in a 6-week program of whole-body vibration exercise training. Blood was drawn before and immediately after an acute bout of exercise at baseline (week 0) and after 6 weeks of training.ResultsThe resting irisin levels were not different at baseline (week 0) and after 6 weeks of training. At both 0 and 6 weeks of training, an acute bout of vibration exercise significantly elevated circulating irisin levels by 9.5% and 18.1%, respectively (p = 0.05 for the percent change of irisin levels).ConclusionsAcute bouts of whole-body vibration exercise are effective in increasing circulating irisin levels but chronic training does not change levels of baseline irisin levels in humans.