ASSESSMENT OF IMMUNE FUNCTION IN WELL TRAINED MILITARY PERSONNEL AFTER STRENUOUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN A TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Military training involves activities that are strenuous and requires high endurance. Strenuous activity is associated with depression of immune functions and can lead to immune function defects. This can compromise the performance of the military personnel in the field. Thus, we aimed to study the pattern of urinary cytokine levels in military personnel after a 5 km jungle trek with full battle gear for five consecutive days. Six male army physical instructors of similar age (32.7 ± 2.2 years) were recruited for the study. After collection of a baseline urine sample, the subjects completed a 5 km jungle trek with full battle gear in a tropical environment. At the end of the jungle trek, another urine sample was collected.
The same protocol was repeated for five days and at the end of the jungle trek on the Day 5, another urine sample was collected. The urine samples were analysed for the cytokines (IL-1 β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL- 1ra and IL-10). The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the urine cytokines between the baseline, and the end of Days 1 and 5. Our study showed that pro-inflammatory cytokines 1L-1β and IL- 6 showed a steady increase from baseline to Day 5 and remained persistently high even at the end of the five days’ of the jungle trek. Anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1ra showed an initial increase, but was decreased by Day 5, while no changes were seen in IL-10 levels. On the whole, studying cytokine secretion pattern would help us in understanding the body’s response to strenuous activities conducted by
military personnel.
Keywords: Interleukins; urinary cytokines; strenuous exercise; military training; tropical environment

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