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Association of Cell and Humoral Indicators of the Immune System with Indicators of the Physical Activity Level in Healthy Young Men

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Abstract

Functional tension of the immune system was considered as depending on the level of physical activity in young people. The subjects were 77 healthy men aged 18–20 years, who were junior students of Yaroslavl universities. The subjects were grouped by physical activity level. The state of the immune system was judged from the lymphocytes phenotype, serum immunoglobulin levels, phagocytic indicators, oxygen-dependent metabolism of neutrophils, and plasma levels of lactoferrin and ferritin. The tension level of specific humoral immunity was inferred from the titers of antibodies to a wide group of bacterial pathogens. The overall tension level of the immune system in subject groups with different levels of physical activity was assessed by the index of conjugation of paired correlation coefficients of immunity indicators. The significance of the controlled factors was assessed by one-way ANOVA in terms of the coefficient of determination; the reliability of the dispersion model was assessed by Fisher’s F-test. The significance of differences between the groups was evaluated by the nonparametric Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test. The baseline level of physical activity was not found to act as an activating factor for the immune system. Almost all indicators were within reference ranges optimal for healthy people. At the systemic level, the variability of indicators of various immune processes was determined by stochastic processes without compensatory mechanisms being triggered at the cell and humoral levels. The involvement in regular exercise at a moderate level was a factor that caused not only activation of some mechanisms of the immune response, but also tension in coordinated activity of various mechanisms of immunity as a functional system. Phagocytosis-related mechanisms of immunity and ferritin-dependent reactions were more sensitive in this case. In subjects who had a high level of physical activity and had been involved in regular physical activity for a long period of time, processes of body adaptation to the physical activity regime started to form, being accompanied by a partial decrease in the tension of immunity at the systemic level. Particular indicators of the immune system had higher values (compared to the baseline), while not leaving the reference ranges characteristic of healthy people. Along with the activation of humoral immunity, stimulation of functional activity of cell immunity was observed in subjects with a higher level of fitness. Methodologically importantly, the season did not significantly influence the main immunity indicators with the exception of spontaneous and induced chemiluminescence indicators, whose autumn values significantly differed from the annual average.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Yaroslavl, Russia

    I. P. Zaitseva

  2. Kirov Military Medical Academy, Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, Russia

    A. E. Kim

  3. Golikov Research and Clinical Center of Toxicology, Federal Medico-Biological Agency, St. Petersburg, Russia

    E. B. Shustov

  4. Yaroslavl State Technical University, Yaroslavl, Russia

    O. N. Zaitsev

Authors
  1. I. P. Zaitseva
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  2. A. E. Kim
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  3. E. B. Shustov
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  4. O. N. Zaitsev
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Correspondence to I. P. Zaitseva.

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Statement of Compliance with Standards of Research Involving Humans as Subjects

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and were approved by the Ethics Committee and Bioethics Commission at the Golilkov Research and Clinical Center of Toxicology (St. Petersburg). All individual participants involved in the study provided their informed consent after being informed about the potential risks and benefits and the nature of the study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Translated by T. Tkacheva

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Zaitseva, I.P., Kim, A.E., Shustov, E.B. et al. Association of Cell and Humoral Indicators of the Immune System with Indicators of the Physical Activity Level in Healthy Young Men. Hum Physiol 48, 569–576 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119722040132

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119722040132

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