K. Suzuki et al., CAPACITY OF CIRCULATING NEUTROPHILS TO PRODUCE REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES AFTER EXHAUSTIVE EXERCISE, Journal of applied physiology, 81(3), 1996, pp. 1213-1222
To investigate the cause of disagreement within the large body of lite
rature concerning the effect of exercise on the capacity of circulatin
g neutrophils to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), 10 male endura
nce-trained athletes underwent maximal exercise. The generation of sup
eroxide radical (O-2(-).) by neutrophils was first detected on a cell-
by-cell basis by using histochemical nitro blue tetrazolium tests perf
ormed directly on fresh unseparated blood, which showed that responsiv
e neutrophils under several stimulatory conditions relatively decrease
d after exercise. Similarly, O--(2). detected with bis-N-methylacridin
ium nitrate (lucigenin)-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) of a fixed nu
mber of purified neutrophils on stimulation with opsonized zymosan was
decreased slightly after exercise. In contrast, the 5-amino-2,3-dihyd
ro-1,4-phthalazinedione (luminol)dependent CL response of the neutroph
ils indicative of the myeloperoxidase (MPO)-mediated formation of high
ly reactive oxidants was significantly enhanced after exercise. It the
refore suggests that the pathway of neutrophil ROS metabolism might be
forwarded from the precursor O-2(-). production to the stages of more
reactive oxidant formation due to the facilitation of MPO degranulati
on. In addition, these phenomena were closely associated with the exer
cise-induced mobilization of neutrophils from the marginated pool into
the circulation, which was mediated by the overshooting of catecholam
ines during exercise. These findings indicate that the use of differen
t techniques for detecting ROS or the different stages of neutrophil R
OS metabolism could explain some of the disparate findings of the prev
ious studies.