Three-weeks moderate aerobic exercise in increasing production of endogenous antioxidant enzyme and lowering oxidative stress level among sedentary men

Background: During exercise, there will be an increase of free radical due to the elevation of oxygen consumption to fulfill the increasing demand for energy. This free radical could produce by muscle and other tissue, especially from the leakage of mitochondria respiratory chain reaction. Moderate exercise training may provide adequate protection against exercise-induced oxidative stress by elevating the antioxidant level and healthier mitochondria that will produce less free radicals. This research will investigate the change of baseline level of MDA and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and also MDA and SOD level after a single bout of moderate exercise before and after three weeks of intervention. Methods: Seven sedentary men with age average 17.2 + 0.2 years recruited for this study. They were meet the criteria of healthy sedentary men. Moderate aerobic exercise of 30 minutes running at 11 – 13 RPE Borg Scale, three times a week for three weeks in a row was applied to the subject. MDA and SOD examination was done by chromatographic assays for total plasma level. The collected data were analyzed using dependent student t-test. Data were normally distributed. Results: The result of this research found a significant elevation of SOD production (p<0.01) after a single bout moderate exercise after three week training (19.98 + 15.52 vs 40.43 +19.64 mg/ml) and significant depression of MDA production (p>0.05) after training program (0.79 + 0.62 vs 1.97 + 0.94 nmol/ml). Conclusion: There is no significant change in post-exercise MDA and SOD level before and after the training program. Initial fitness status, food intake, lifestyle could affect baseline level of MDA and SOD before and after exercise.