The resting serum metabolome in response to short-term sprint interval training

Purpose: To investigate the response of a targeted fraction of (168 metabolites) of the resting serum metabolome to 9 sessions of sprint interval training (SIT). Methods: Thirty-four recreationally active males provided resting blood samples before (baseline) and 48–72 h after (post) a short-term (9 sessions) cycle ergometer-based SIT intervention. A targeted analysis of 168 metabolites was performed on serum using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS). 160 distinct metabolites were identified and combined with 4 calculated metabolite sums and 3 calculated metabolite ratios creating a panel of 167 individual factors. Data were analysed using principal component analysis and univariate testing of all factors classified into 5 metabolite subgroups. Results: SIT improved anaerobic capacity measured by average power output during a Wingate test (p < 0.01; mean difference = 38 W, 95% confidence interval [26, 51]) and aerobic capacity measured by average power output in a 20 min cycling test (p < 0.01; 17 W [12, 23]). Limited separation was discernible in the targeted serum metabolome between baseline and post-intervention when projected on the first and second principal component(s). However, univariate testing identified 11 fatty acids that had lower concentrations (false discovery rate < 0.05) in post-intervention samples. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that this short-term SIT intervention had limited effect on the serum metabolome at rest, but a subfraction of fatty acids are potentially sensitive to short-term exercise training.