Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore the effect of one bout of aerobic exercise on
epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol, glucose, lactate, and free fatty acid (FFA)
responses in breast cancer survivors and healthy controls. 9 female breast cancer
survivors and 9 women without a history of cancer completed 30 min of cycle ergometry
exercise at 60% of VO2peak. Blood samples were taken pre-exercise, immediately post-exercise, and 2 h post-exercise
from which plasma concentrations of study variables were measured. Immediately and
2 h post-exercise, increases were observed in epinephrine (control group only) norepinephrine
(both groups), lactate (both groups), and FFA (both groups immediately post-exercise;
breast cancer survivor group only at 2 h post-exercise) (p<0.05). Cortisol decreased
immediately and 2 h post-exercise in the control group while glucose decreased immediately
post-exercise in the breast cancer survivor group (p<0.05). In conclusion, breast
cancer survivors appeared to display attenuated epinephrine, cortisol, and lactate
responses while displaying larger magnitude changes in glucose and FFA responses compared
to controls. These preliminary findings may have implications for the regulation of
metabolism during exercise in breast cancer survivors.
Key words
acute aerobic exercise - stress hormones - energy metabolism - oncology patients
