Introduction:Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) acts as the main factor in the occurrence of atherosclerosis and inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to investigate the response of ICAM-1to exhaustive submaximal exercise and its correlation with maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), body fat percentage (BF %) and calories burned during exercise (CB) in healthy men.

Materials and methods:Thirteen healthy men (mean ± standard deviation: age 23 ± 3 years, weight 78 ± 4 kg, height 180 ± 4 cm) cooperated in this quasi-experimental study and performed a single bout of exhaustive submaximal exercise on a cycle ergometer. Blood samples were collected from the antecubital vein before and immediately after exercise. Data were analyzed using the paired sample t-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (α=0.05).

Results:Exhaustive submaximal exercisehad no significant effect on serum sICAM-1. Also, there were no significant correlations between ICAM-1 induced by the exhaustive submaximal exercise and VO2max, BMI, WHR, BF % and CB.

Conclusions:According to our findings, it cannot be ruled out that exhaustive submaximal exercise results in pathological and inflammatory conditions in healthy men. In Also, anthropometric and physiological parameters do not affect the response of ICAM-1 to exercise in healthy men.