Immune Function in Sport and Exercise Course 2

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the effect of acute exercise on innate immune cell functions.
2. Understand the mechanisms of innate immune system modulation by acute exercise.
3. Discuss the impact of exercise intensity, duration and fitness of subjects on the innate immune response to exercise.
4. Explain how acute exercise affects cell-mediated immune function.
5. Explain how acute exercise affects humoral immune function.
6. Describe changes in immune function that occur in response to short periods of intensified training or overreaching in athletes.
7. Appreciate that there are very few published studies that have directly related impaired immune function in athletes to increased incidence of infectious illness.
8. Describe the effects of overtraining syndrome on immune function and susceptibility to infection.
9. Discuss the possible role of cytokines in overtraining and unexplained underperformance.
10. Discuss possible immune markers of overtraining.
11. Describe research evidence from studies that have examined the effects of environmental extremes (heat, cold, high altitude and spaceflight) on immune responses at rest and during exercise.
12. Demonstrate an understanding of the mechanisms by which the rise in core temperature during exercise may be involved in the etiology of exercise-induced immune suppression.
13. Describe the effects of exercise on plasma cytokines.
14. Discuss the evidence that interleukin-6 is secreted from contracting muscle.
15. Discuss the metabolic and immunoregulatory roles of interleukin-6.
16. Discuss the effects of exercise on cytokine production by leukocytes.