PURPOSE: To study if the pre-radiotherapy physical activity has radio-protective elements, by measuring the radio-induced activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines as interleukin-6 (il-6), transforming growth factor -β (tgf -β), tumor necrosis factor -α (tnf-α) and protein beta kinase β (ikkβ), through western blotting analysis. METHODS: A randomized study with 28 Wistar hannover rats, males, with a mean age of 90 days and weighing about 200 grams. The animals were divided into three groups: (GI, GII and GIII). GIII group were submitted to swimming for eight weeks (zero load, three times a week, about 30 minutes). Then, the groups (except the control group) were submitted to irradiation by cobalt therapy, single dose of 3.5 gray in the whole body. All animals were sacrificed by overdose of pentobarbital, according to the time for analysis of cytokines, and then a fragment of the lower lobe of the right lung went to western blotting analysis. RESULTS: The cytokines IKK β, TNF-α and IL-6 induced by radiation in the lung were lower in the exercised animals. However, exercise did not alter the radiation-induced increase in tgf-β. 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