title: The effects of intense physical exercise on secondary antibody response in young and old mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Based largely on data from young subjects, intense physical exercise is believed to suppress immune function. In addition, immune function, including secondary antibody response, declines with advancing age. Therefore, intense exercise in old subjects may further suppress the secondary antibody response. The purpose of this in vivo study was to investigate the effects of intense physical exercise on secondary antibody response in young (6-8 weeks) and old (22-24 months) C57BL/6 mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were obtained from 22 young and 18 old C57BL/6 mice that were immunized to human serum albumin (HSA) and randomly divided into 3 groups. Two groups were exposed to a single bout of intense exercise to exhaustion and immediately boosted with an injection of HSA. The first group did not exercise further, but the second group continued with daily bouts of intense exercise to exhaustion for 9 days. The third group (control group) did not undergo intense exercise, but received the booster injection of HSA at the same time as the other groups. Ten days after the HSA booster injection, when high level of antibodies are produced in secondary antibody response, serum anti-HSA antibodies were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Young mice did not show suppression of secondary antibody response following intense exercise. However, old mice, exposed to a single bout of intense exercise, had an enhanced response similar to the response seen in young control mice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The widely accepted hypothesis of immunosuppression resulting from intense exercise may not be true for old mice.
authors.affiliation: Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 1441 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. zkapasi@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Z F
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Kapasi
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Catlin
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Joyner
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Townsend
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation