Exercise and the neutrophil oxidative burst: biological and experimental variability

The effect of acute bouts of moderate-intensity running and cycling on the neutrophil oxidative burst was examined. Eight well-trained male runners in group 1 each undertook, on different days, either two 40-min bouts of running (run 1 and run 2) separated by a 1-h recovery period, or 40 min of moderate cycling. Blood leucocyte (+49%) and granulocyte (+57%) counts increased (P < 0.05) with moderate running, but only the leucocyte count (+27%) was elevated significantly during moderate cycling. Chemiluminescence activity and superoxide anion release decreased after run 1 (-61%, P < 0.05) and after 30 min of cycling (-53%, P < 0.05), with no significant changes in the intracellular release of hydrogen peroxide. The same measures were also assessed at rest in a group of eight male volunteers (group 2) with no significant difference in neutrophil activity for samples treated in parallel or 1 h apart. These data suggest that while neutrophils are mobilised into the circulation in the first few hours following moderate exercise, their oxidative burst is temporarily inhibited. These effects were due to exercise per se and not to temporal variability or intra-assay variation.