Assessment of circulating immune complexes by a solid-phase C1q-binding assay during the first hours and days after...

A sensitive and specific solid-phase C1q-binding assay using porcine C1q and microtitre plates as a solid phase, served to assess the immune complexes in serum during the first hours and days after a 3-h running test. Fourteen moderately trained male subjects participated in the race and covered 36.3 +/- 3.7 (mean +/- SD) km in 3 h. Blood samples were drawn 1 day before, immediately before, immediately after, 1 and 3 h after and 1, 2 and 4 days after the race. When corrected for the changes of serum total protein, the apparent immune complex concentrations were 1 and 3 h after the race significantly higher (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.05 respectively) than the pre-exercise values. Two days after the race the values were significantly lower (p less than 0.05) than before the race. These findings provide evidence for the formation of immune complexes after severe physical exercise.