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Critical Reviews™ in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine

Published 4 issues per year

ISSN Print: 0896-2960

ISSN Online: 2162-6553

SJR: 0.141 SNIP: 0.129 CiteScore™:: 0.6 H-Index: 18

Indexed in

Physical Activity and Immune Changes:A Potential Model of Subclinical Inflammation and Sepsis

Volume 8, Issue 3, 1996, pp. 153-181
DOI: 10.1615/CritRevPhysRehabilMed.v8.i3.10
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ABSTRACT

Brief description is given of the various clinical presentations of sepsis, and attention is drawn to similar immune responses that follow a bout of heavy exercise. It is thus suggested that exercise offers a potential model for the controlled study of sub-clinical inflammation and sepsis, and for facilitating the development of appropriate medications for the control of expressive inflammation.
Immune suppression can result either from several weeks of over-training, or from single bouts of exercise of 60-120 minutes at 60-70% of aerobic power. A combination of six hours of cycling under stress of competition leads to large increases in two of the key determinants of immune dysregulation (IL-6 and TNF-alpha). NK cell activity can be suppressed for as long as seven days following 2 hours of aerobic exercise, thus increasing the risk of viral infection. Exercise also increases IL-2 beta receptor expression, but decreases the in vitro production of IL-2. Repetition of exercise or the addition of heat stress increases the severity of the immune disturbance for a given intensity of effort. Very prolonged exercise (for example, a 112 day cross-Canada ran) induces sustained decreases in both CD16+CD56+ and CD8+ cells. In contrast, thermal clamping by immersion in water reduces the magnitude of exercise-induced changes in leukocyte counts. Aging leads to some decline in proliferative responses, but much of this decrease can be offset by regular training. In the young adult, training also enhances the resting NK count.
The normal immune response to injury is described, and possible causes of an excessive inflammatory response are reviewed. Mechanisms for the control of inflammation are considered, and the danger of an excessive immuno-suppression is noted. Common features of clinical sepsis and exercise include cellular infiltration, phagocytic activation, eicosanoid and cytokine release, altered in vitro cytokine production, depressed NK cell function, suppression of immunoglobulin synthesis, an impaired proliferative response, and initiation of various immune cascades.
It is suggested that future research should seek to optimise the exercise model and markers of immune dysregulation before proceeding to evaluate such potential therapies as free anti-oxidants and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drags (NSAIDS).

CITED BY
  1. Moldoveanu Andrei I., Shephard Roy J., Shek Pang N., The Cytokine Response to Physical Activity and Training, Sports Medicine, 31, 2, 2001. Crossref

  2. Appukutty M., Ramasamy K., Rajan S., Vellasamy S., Ramasamy R., Radhakrishnan A.K., Effect of orally administered soy milk fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum LAB12 and physical exercise on murine immune responses, Beneficial Microbes, 6, 4, 2015. Crossref

  3. Natale Valéria M., Shephard Roy J., Interrelationships Between Acute and Chronic Exercise and the Immune and Endocrine Systems, in Sports Endocrinology, 2000. Crossref

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