Tai Chi Chuan increases circulating myeloid dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells, the most potent antigen-presenting cells linking innate and adoptive immunity, are thought to be important targets of immune modulators such as exercise. We examined the effect of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) on dendritic cells. TCC practitioners were further divided to high-level practitioners (TCC-H) and low-level practitioners (TCC-L). The quantities of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells were estimated by flow cytometry. We examined parameters including age, body weight, body length, body fat, and serum albumin level, in the controls, TCC-H and TCC-L, which did not differ significantly. The mean peak VO(2) (volume of O(2) utilization) of the TCC-H group was greater than that of the sedentary control group. White blood cell (WBC) count in the entire TCC group was greater than that of the controls. The quantity of myeloid dendritic cells was significantly greater in the TCC group, whereas the quantity of plasmacytoid dendritic cells was similar for both groups. Among the TCC subgroups, the quantity of myeloid dendritic cells, but not plasmacytoid dendritic cells, in the TCC-H group was greater than that of TCC-L practitioners. TCC could increase the number of circulating myeloid dendritic cells, but not plasmacytoid dendritic cells, in a performance level-dependent manner.

Cycling and Tai Chi Chuan exercises exert greater immunomodulatory effect on surface antigen expression of human hepatitis B virus.

BACKGROUND: Both athletes with intensive exercise and aged people may have weakened immunity against virus infection. This study aimed to evaluate whether people undergoing aerobic exercises including competitive cyclists with moderate training (CMT) and middle-aged people practicing Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) exercise have higher immunity against hepatitis B virus than age-matched sedentary controls including college students (CSC) and middle-aged people (MSC). METHODS: Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from competitive cyclists and sedentary controls were stimulated by phytohemagglutinin (PHA) to prepare conditioned medium (MNC-CM) for the assessment of inhibitory effects on hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) expression in human hepatoma Hep3B cells. RESULTS: The inhibitory effects on the relative HBsAg expression of CMT's and TCC's MNC-CM were greater than those of the controls. The CMT's MNC-CM prepared from 5 microg/ml PHA decreased HBsAg expression to 61.5%, whereas that of CSC remained at 83.8%. Similarly, this expression by treatment of TCC group' MNC-CM was 68.4% whereas that of MSC group was 84.3%. The levels of cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IFN-alpha and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) in the MNC-CM from the CMT and TCC groups were greater than those in the controls. Antibody neutralization of CMT's MNC-CM and addition of recombinant cytokines into CSC's MNC-CM indicated that IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IFN-alpha had synergistic effects against HBsAg expression. Similar blocking effect was noted in TCC versus MSC groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the immunomodulatory response to suppress HBsAg expression in CMT and TCC with moderate aerobic exercise is greater than that in age-matched sedentary controls.

Honokiol protects rats against eccentric exercise-induced skeletal muscle damage by inhibiting NF-kappaB induced oxidative stress and inflammation.

Honokiol, a bioactive component isolated from the Chinese herb Magnolia officinalis, is known for its potent antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. To study whether honokiol can protect skeletal muscle from sports injuries, we set up an eccentric exercise bout protocol for rats consisting of downhill running on a treadmill and examined the effect of oral administration of honokiol at 1 h before eccentric exercise at a dose of 5 mg/kg on day 1 (HK5 x 1) or 1 mg/kg/day for 5 consecutive days (HK1 x 5). Eccentric exercise was implemented for 3-5 consecutive days, and induced remarkable tissue damage. This damage was associated with an increase in serum creatine levels, increase in protein nitrotyrosylation, poly-ADP-ribose-polymerase (PARP) upregulation, lipid peroxidation, and leukocyte infiltration. The degree of muscle damage also paralleled dramatic gene expression for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and inflammation-associated cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1), possibly through activation of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB), a crucial proinflammatory transcription factor. Both honokiol treatments (HK5 x 1 and HK1 x 5) significantly ameliorated eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage as revealed by suppression of cell fragmentation, protein nitrotyrosylation and PARP upregulation, as well as reductions in lipid peroxidation and leukocyte infiltration, possibly through downregulating gene expression for COX-2, iNOS, and the proinflammatory cytokines by modulation of NF-kappaB activation. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates for the first time that honokiol exhibits protective effects against eccentric exercise-induced skeletal muscle damage in rats, probably by modulating inflammation-mediated damage to muscle cells.

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester, an antioxidant from propolis, protects peripheral blood mononuclear cells of competitive cyclists against hyperthermal stress.

Hyperthermal stress and resulting free radical generation is known to impair endurance capacity and immune cell redistribution during prolonged exercise. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a phenolic compound purified from propolis, has many biological and pharmacological activities including antioxidation. To examine whether CAPE has protective effect against hyperthermal stress in athletes, we isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNC) from competitive cyclists and assessed their response to hyperthermia with or without CAPE pretreatment. We found that pretreatment of cyclists' MNC with CAPE (0, 1, 2, 4 microg/mL) reversed or reduced hyperthermia-induced survival inhibition, necrosis, superoxide production, glutathione depletion, and intracellular superoxide burst in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that CAPE may enhance the hyperthermal tolerance in immune mononuclear cells of competitive cyclists.