The Effect of Exercise Training on Salivary Immunoglobulin A and Cortisol Responses to Maximal Exercise

Abstract

The salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) and Cortisol responses to maximal exercise were examined in 24 adult males (X ± SD; 22.1 ± 3.0 yrs) before and after 10 weeks of run training. The subjects performed an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control (CON; n = 5), low intensity training (LO; n = 8), or high intensity training (HI; n = 11). Following the ten weeks of training, the subjects performed a second maximal treadmill test. Saliva samples were collected before, as well as immediately and 1 hr following each of the maximal treadmill tests and were analyzed for s-IgA and salivary cortisol.

Maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O₂max) increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the LO and HI groups but remained unchanged in the CON group. The s-IgA levels decreased significantly (p < 0.05) immediately post-exercise but returned to pre-exercise levels by one hour recovery. In addition, s-IgA and cortisol levels were not >0.05) correlated at any of the sampling times. These findings indicated that the s-IgA response to maximal exercise was unaffected by moderate (70%of V̇O₂max) to heavy (86% of V̇O₂max) training (designed to develop cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy non-athletic adults) and independent of salivary cortisol.

Key words

Training - salivary IgA - cortisol