Acute impact of submaximal resistance exercise on immunological and hormonal parameters in young men

Abstract

In this study, we examined the acute effects of submaximal resistance exercise on immunological and hormonal parameters in 7 resistance-trained and 10 non-resistance-trained males. The participants, who were aged 29.5 +/- 7.1 years (mean +/- s), performed submaximal resistance exercise at 75% of their one-repetition maximum. Blood samples were taken before, during, immediately after, and 30, 60 and 120 min after exercise and analysed for leukocyte subpopulations and stress hormones. Total leukocytes, neutrophils and monocytes increased during exercise, reaching their maximum 2 h after exercise. Lymphocytes increased during exercise, T-helper cells returned to resting values after exercise, and natural killer cells and T-suppressor cells decreased below resting values. The CD4/CD8 ratio decreased during exercise but increased during recovery. The resistance-trained participants tended to have lower T-helper cell counts before, during and immediately after exercise and a lower CD4/CD8 ratio during recovery than the non-resistance-trained participants. Plasma cortisol correlated positively with leukocytes during exercise (r = 0.572, P < 0.05), but negatively with T-helper cells 30 and 60 min after exercise (r = -0.573, P < 0.05; r = -0.642, P < 0.01, respectively). Our results indicate that resistance exercise leads to acute changes in leukocyte counts, despite moderate hormonal changes, independent of training status. Regular resistance exercise might lead to decreased T-helper cell counts and a lower CD4/CD8 ratio, which could increase susceptibility to infections.

Effects of resistance exercise and protein ingestion on blood leukocytes and platelets in young and older men

“…The possible reasons for the present Wnding may be the timing of the blood samples in design IV (from 0 to 30 min and 48 h post-RE) and the fact that the post-RT exercise workout was with the same relative, not absolute, workload than the pre-RT exercise workout unlike in the 'repeated-bout eVect' studies using two exercise sessions separated by few weeks (Pizza et al 1996). In agreement, RE-induced blood leukocytosis has been previously reported to be similar in untrained and trained young males in a cross-sectional design (Ramel et al 2003) and also not to be substantially aVected from 10 weeks of RT in older women (McFarlin et al 2005).…”

“…In a recent study with elderly women a short bout of RE did not induce blood leukocytosis immediately post-RE or at later time-points (Neves Sda et al 2009) and this is in contrast to large number of studies with young or middle-aged subjects (Nieman et al 1995;Kraemer et al 1996;Natale et al 2003;Ramel et al 2003;Risoy et al 2003;Simonson and Jackson 2004;Mayhew et al 2005). The present study, however, showed that with large enough exercise volume and intensity, the blood leukocytosis occurs also in older subjects agreeing with a study in older women (McFarlin et al 2005).…”

“…In that study, no signiWcant eVects of protein-carbohydrate supplements were found for blood cortisol. This may be one reason for the similar leukocyte response between the supplements as blood cortisol response may be important for blood leukocytes (McCarthy et al 1992;Ramel et al 2003). The same may be true for at least the results in the present design I, in which serum cortisol response did not diVer between the protein and placebo conditions as reported earlier (Hulmi et al 2005).…”

“…The blood leukocyte response may be biphasic, comprising an acute increase immediately after exercise and delayed increase some hours later (Gabriel and Kindermann 1997;Saxton et al 2003;Paulsen et al 2005). The acute increase in blood leukocytes has been shown to occur after traditional resistance exercise (RE) workout in many studies (Nieman et al 1995;Kraemer et al 1996;Simonson 2001;Natale et al 2003;Ramel et al 2003;Risoy et al 2003;Simonson and Jackson 2004;Mayhew et al 2005;McFarlin et al 2005). Only a few studies have, however, studied this phenomenon in older or middle-aged subjects (Nieman et al 1995;McFarlin et al 2005;Neves Sda et al 2009), and especially, in the same study examined both young and older individuals.…”

Nutritional and Physical Activity Interventions to Improve Immunity

“…61 Following an acute bout of resistance exercise, Natural Killer cells, and phagocytes (monocytes and neutrophils) increase in the circulation whereby the number of some of these subsets (monocytes, neutrophils) remain elevated for up to 2 h postexercise. 62 The duration and magnitude of the post exercise leukocytosis is diminished in the older population as a consequence of age-related decline in leukocytes. 61 with total exercise time as low as ~ 10 min.…”