The role of O exposure and physical activity status on redox state, inflammation, and pulmonary toxicity of young men: A cross-sectional study.

The exposure to traffic-related air pollutants, such as NO and O, are associated with detrimental health effects, becoming one of the greatest public health issues worldwide. Exercising in polluted environments could result in harmful outcomes for health and may blunt the physiological adaptations of exercise training. This study aimed to investigate the influence of physical activity and O exposure on redox status, an inflammatory marker, response to stress, and pulmonary toxicity of healthy young individuals. We performed a cross-sectional study with 100 individuals that, based on their exposure to O and physical fitness (PF) level, were distributed in four groups: Low PF + Low O; Low PF + High O; High PF + Low O; High PF + High O. We evaluated personal exposure to NO and O physical activity level, variables of oxidative stress (SOD, ROS, CAT, GSH, TBARS), pulmonary toxicity (CC16), and inflammatory mediators (IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, HSP70). Spearman correlation test to check the association among the variables was used and to compare groups we used one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's post hoc and Kruskal Wallis test followed by Dunn's post hoc. O levels correlated with physical activity (r = 0.25; p = 0.01) but not with age or markers of body composition (p > 0.05). The individuals with high physical fitness that were less exposed to O presented higher CAT activity (p < 0.001), lower TBARS (p < 0.01) and IL-1β concentrations (p < 0.01), higher IL-6 (p < 0.05) and IL-10 concentrations (p < 0.05), lower IL-6:1L-10 ratio (p < 0.05), lower CC16 levels (p < 0.05), and higher HSP70 concentration (p < 0.05). Physical activity could result in higher exposure to O that could partially blunt some exercise adaptations, while high physical fitness improved the antioxidant defense system, systemic inflammatory mediators, and pulmonary toxicity.