Cellular immune activity in response to increased training of elite oarsmen prior to Olympic competition

Abstract

This study investigated the changes in urinary neopterin, a biochemical marker of cellular immune activity, in elite male rowers undertaking a progressive increase in training prior to Olympic competition. Twenty‐seven male rowers of the 1992 Great Britain team provided daily urine samples for a 4‐week period of training that included 17 days of altitude training and 10 days of heat acclimatization. The mean (± s.d.) ratio of neopterin/ creatinine in urine increased from pre‐training values of 135 ± 32 to a peak of 219± 121 μmol neopterin per mol creatinine on day 19 of training (P < 0.05). Changes in the ratio of neopterin/creatinine with training were found to be transient and highly variable between subjects, ranging from no change to peak values five‐fold greater than baseline. On the basis of the in vivo measurement of cell‐mediated immunity employed in this study, we conclude that elite athletes engaged in high‐intensity training prior to competition show either no change or a moderate increase in cellular immune activation.

Keywords:

• Cell‐mediated immunity
• exercise
• neoptein
• overtraining
• rowing
• training

Notes

Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.