Swim training increases ovalbumin induced active systemic anaphylaxis in mice.
Aerobic training can be defined as any physical exercise that increases the heart rate and enhances the body's intake of oxygen long enough to benefit the condition of the body. Running, cycling, and swimming are examples of aerobic activities. In recent years, the importance of sports in everyday life has been rapidly increasing. Moderate exercise appears to stimulate the immune system. However, healthy elite runners often complain about bronchial symptoms after heavy exercise. Exercise-induced asthma and active systemic anaphylaxis are the most common problems seen in these individuals. The inter-relationship of exercise and the allergy response has not been well studied. This study was designed to examine the effects of regular swim training on body weight, spleen index, the number of lymphocytes, scoring of active systemic anaphylactic shock, proliferative activity of splenic lymphocytes and cytokine levels in BALB/c mice. Thirty mice (6 weeks old) were involved in this study and they were divided into 3 groups: a control group (Control, n = 10), a sensitized group (Sensitized, n = 10), and a sensitized-trained group (Sen-trained, n = 10). The sen-trained group was studied after 10 weeks of regular swim training. All data were expressed as mean and standard deviation by using SPSS (ver.10.0). The swim training caused a decrease in body weight (p < 05), an increase of spleen index, active systemic anaphylaxis, lymphocyte proliferation (stimulated with ovalbumin), and cytokine levels (especially IL-4) when comparing the sen-trained group to the sensitized group (p < .05). These data indicate that there is a link between allergy anaphylaxis and regular swim training. This may be due to increased lymphocyte proliferation (stimulated with ovalbumin), ASAS (active systemic anaphylactic shock) score, and IL-4 cytokine levels after exercise.