  Citation: Cavalcante, S.; Teixeira, M.; Duarte, A.; Ferreira, M.; Simões, M.I.; Conceição, M.; Costa, M.; Ribeiro, I.P.; Gonçalves, A.C.; Oliveira, J.; et al. Endothelial Progenitor Cell Response to Acute Multicomponent Exercise Sessions with Different Durations. Biology 2022, 11, 572. https:// doi.org/10.3390/biology11040572 Academic Editors: Qichang Mei, Yaodong Gu, Julien S. Baker, Justin Fernandez and Stephen F Burns Received: 10 February 2022 Accepted: 6 April 2022 Published: 9 April 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). biology Article Endothelial Progenitor Cell Response to Acute Multicomponent Exercise Sessions with Different Durations Suiane Cavalcante 1 , Manuel Teixeira 2 , Ana Duarte 3 , Miriam Ferreira 3 , Maria I. Simões 3 , Maria Conceição 3 , Mariana Costa 4 , Ilda P. Ribeiro 5,6 , Ana Cristina Gonçalves 7,8 , José Oliveira 1,9 and Fernando Ribeiro 10, * 1 Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal; suiane.lima@hotmail.com (S.C.); joliveira@fade.up.pt (J.O.) 2 Institute of Biomedicine—iBiMED, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; manuelteixeira@ua.pt 3 Unidade Cuidados na Comunidade Cubo Mágico da Saúde, ACES Baixo Vouga, 3800-120 Aveiro, Portugal; acduarte3@arscentro.min-saude.pt (A.D.); mzferreira@arscentro.min-saude.pt (M.F.); misimoes3@arscentro.min-saude.pt (M.I.S.); mcconceicao@arscentro.min-saude.pt (M.C.) 4 Câmara Municipal de Oliveira do Bairro—Projeto Não Fique Parado, 3800-120 Aveiro, Portugal; oliveira_mariana@msn.com 5 Cytogenetics and Genomics Laboratory, Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine (FMUC), University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal; iribeiro@uc.pt 6 Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Center of Investigation on Environment Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Faculty of Medicine (FMUC), University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal 7 Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR)—Group of Environment, Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Faculty of Medicine (FMUC), Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal; acgoncalves@fmed.uc.pt 8 Laboratory of Oncobiology and Hematology, University Clinic of Hematology, Faculty of Medicine (FMUC), University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal 9 Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal 10 Institute of Biomedicine—iBiMED, School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal * Correspondence: fernando.ribeiro@ua.pt Simple Summary: Reports suggest that an acute bout of exercise promotes the mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells from bone marrow, increasing the circulating levels of endothelial pro- genitor cells. The impact of the intensity of acute exercise on the circulating levels of endothelial progenitor cells was previously described. Yet, the question of whether the duration of the exercise session impacts the mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells has not been tested among adults with cardiovascular risk factors. In this study, a 30 min session vs. a 45 min session promoted a significant increase in the circulating number of endothelial progenitor cells. The findings show a multicomponent exercise session of only 30 min has the potential to induce beneficial effects for vascular health. Abstract: It is widely accepted that exercise training has beneficial effects on vascular health. Al- though a dose-dependent relation has been suggested, little is known about the effects of different exercise durations on endothelial markers. This study aimed to assess the effect of single exercise sessions with different durations in the circulating levels of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and endothelial cells (CECs) among adults with cardiovascular risk factors. Ten participants performed two multicomponent exercise sessions, one week apart, lasting 30 and 45 min (main exercise phase). Before and after each exercise session, blood samples were collected to quantify EPCs and CECs by flow cytometry. The change in EPCs was significantly different between sessions by 3.0% (95% CI: 1.3 to 4.7), being increased by 1.8 ± 1.7% (p = 0.009) in the 30 min session vs. −1.2 ± 2.0% (p > 0.05) in the 45 min session. No significant change was observed in CECs [−2.0%, 95%CI: (−4.1 to 0.2)] between the sessions. In conclusion, a multicomponent exercise session of 30 min promotes an acute increase in the circulating levels of EPCs without increasing endothelial damage (measured by the levels of CECs) among adults with cardiovascular risk factors. Biology 2022, 11, 572. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11040572 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biology