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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 207-211 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of Sports Sciences |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 1995 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cell-mediated immunity
- Exercise
- Neoptein
- Overtraining
- Rowing
- Training