The combined effects of strenuous exercise and sleep disturbance on cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids in mature rats / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

Phagocytic cells, polymorphonuclear leucocytes and macrophages, play an important role in non-specific cellular immunity, which is the first line of defense against infectious diseases. The purposes of this study were to clarify the combined effects of forced exercise and sleep disturbance on non-specific cellular immunity in mature rats, and to compare the effects between forced and voluntary exercise. Non-specific cellular immunity represented by the yield of cells from bronchoalveolar lavage and the superoxide-generating capacity of alveolar macrophages was investigated using mature rats.<BR>Male Wistar rats (11 weeks old) were divided into 5 groups<BR>1) Training group ; exercised on a treadmill at a belt speed of 35 m/min for 15 min/day, <BR>2) Jet Lag group ; disturbance of the sleep cycle by day/night time shifts at 2-week intervals, <BR>3) Training+ Jet Lag (T + J) group ; exercised on a treadmill with sleep disturbance, a model identified by our research group to simulate chronic fatigue, 4) Voluntary group ; housed with running wheels, and 5) Control group ; housed under sedentary conditions.<BR>Body weight and food consumption measured during the experimental period showed coincidental changes. After 6 weeks of the experiment, the rats were sacrificed at the age of 17 weeks. Negative effects on non-specific cellular immunity were observed in the training group, and the rats were also slightly affected by sleep disturbance (Jet Lag group) . These negative effects seemed to be cumulative in the T+J group. In contrast, significant positive effects were observed in the voluntary group.<BR>These results suggest that stress, forced exercise and sleep disturbance negatively affect non-specific cellular immunity, and that voluntary exercise is able to enhance immunity even if it is started after maturation.