Effects of Exercise on Stress-induced Attenuation of Vaccination Responses in Mice

Studies suggest that exercise can improve vaccination responses in humans. Chronic stress can lead to immunosuppression, and there may be a role for exercise in augmenting immune responses. Purpose To investigate the effects of acute eccentric exercise (ECC) and voluntary wheel exercise training (VWR) on antibody and cell-mediated immune responses to vaccination in chronically stressed mice. We hypothesized that both ECC and VWR would attenuate chronic stress-induced reductions in vaccination responses. Methods Mice were randomized into four groups: control (CON), stress (S)-ECC, S-VWR, and S-sedentary (SED). Stressed groups received chronic restraint stress for 6 h·d−1, 5 d·wk−1 for 3 wk. After the first week of stress, S-ECC were exercised at 17 m·min−1 speed at −20% grade for 45 min on a treadmill and then intramuscularly injected with 100 μg of ovalbumin (OVA) and 200 μg of alum adjuvant. All other groups were also vaccinated at this time. Stress-VWR mice voluntarily ran on a wheel for the entire experiment. Plasma was collected before, and at 1, 2, and 4 wk postvaccination. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to analyze anti-OVA IgG and IgM antibodies. After 3 wk of chronic stress, all mice were injected with OVA into the ear to determine the delayed-type hypersensitivity. Results We found that chronic restraint stress significantly reduced body weight and caused adrenal hypertrophy. We also found both S-ECC and S-VWR groups had signific...
Source: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: BASIC SCIENCES Source Type: research