PURPOSE: Although the effects of exercise on immunoglobulin have been widely studied in adults, the available evidence in children and adolescents exposed to high altitude environment is more sparse. To determine the effects of altitude training on IgA,IgM,IgG in amateur adolescent athletes.
METHODS: Twenty-one male amateur adolescent runners (age: 15.3 +/- 0.7 years, height: 164.7 +/- 5.4cm, weight: 51.3 +/- 6.1kg, training period: 0.9 +/- 0.2 years) in plain area (190m) , with no previous altitude training experience, voluntarily participated in the study. All subjects were exposed to an altitude of 1890m(Liupanshui, China) for 3 week and altitude exposure consisted of 6 d/wk of training (4-5 h/d). The change of IgA,IgG,IgM were measured in the plain, and the first day, the first week, the second week, the third week after arrival at the high altitude research station.
RESULTS: The IgA level(2.13+0.82 vs. 1.96+0.74, 2.00+0.83,1.97+0.79,1.99+0.77g/L, p>0.05) of the athletes decreased slightly in altitude environment, but there was no significant difference at different time. The IgG level of the athletes decreased slightly after arriving at the altitude(10.89+1.98 vs. 10.53+1.57g/L, p>0.05), decreased significantly at the first weekend (10.89+1.98 vs. 10.17+2.25g/L, p<0.01), began to rise in the second week, and was still significantly lower than the basic value at the third weekend (10.89+1.98 vs. 10.38+1.99g/L, p<0.01). During the whole period of altitude training, the IgA level of the athletes was the lowest at the first weekend. The change of IgM level was similar to that of IgG, which decreased significantly at the first weekend and was significantly lower than other time points (1.21+0.46 vs. 1.19+0.42, 1.14+0.41, 1.23+0.47, 1.20+0.44g/L, p<0.05), and recovered to the basic value at the second and third weeks.
CONCLUSION: In the first week of high altitude, the level of immunoglobulin in amateur adolescent athletes will be significantly reduced, which suggests that the amateur adolescent athletes in the pursuit of high altitude training should pay attention to the monitoring and regulation of immunity function. IgG and IgM are more sensitive to hypoxia stimulation, and can be used as one of the sensitive indexes to monitor the immune function of the body during altitude training.