Changes of Salivary IgA of athletes after a single bout of exercise in cold, warm and natural environments

Introduction: Exercise and environmental stressors cause alteration in different components of the immune and hormonal systems. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the changes of serum cortisol and salivary IgA of athletes after a single bout of exercise cold, warm and natural environments. Methods: Ten young male athletes who ran on a treadmill for 1 hour at %60 VO2max in environments of natural (22&plusmn;1˚c, 50&plusmn;5 RH), cold (3&plusmn;1˚c, 50&plusmn;2 RH) and warm (35&plusmn;1˚c, 50&plusmn;5RH). Blood and Saliva samples were collected to measure cortisol and SIgA before, after exercise and 2 hours after recovery. In addition, during exercise body temperature, athletes&rsquo; consumption water, Plasma Volume Changes, perceived exertion (borg scale) were measured. In order to analyze the data, Repeated Measure and Bonferroni tests at the significant level of P<0.05 were utilized. Results: The cortisol concentration increased significantly after exercise, in three environments (P<0.0001). This increased values were significant in warm in comparison with cold (P=0.04) and natural (P=0.031) environments. SIgA concentrations, in three environments, did not have significant changes after exercise. However, these values reduced significantly after exercise in cold environment compare to natural (P=0.021) and hot environment compare to natural (P=0.035). Conclusion: Exercise in the three environments causes increase serum cortisol as well as stimulating the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. But, exercise had no effect on the levels of SIgA. However, regard to a significant reductions of these values in cold and warm environments than natural environment after exercise, is possible a risk of respiratory tract infection in cold and warm environments.