Exercise-induced changes in neutrophil and erythrocyte functions

Abstract

The work presented in this thesis consists of two separate projects which addressed the effects of single episodes of both moderate and vigorous exercise (and the chronic effects of endurance training) on neutrophil microbicidal activity and erythrocyte susceptibility to osmotic and oxidative stress. The thesis is presented in two parts in the form of published and unpublished manuscripts. Part 1 reports the neutrophil studies and Part 2 the erythrocyte studies. Each Part contains an abstract, literature review (including summary and scope of thesis), experimental papers, and a general discussion. The relationship between the experimental papers in both parts of the thesis will be obvious from the introductions and discussions in each paper. The sequence of presentation of the experimental papers does not necessarily reflect the order in which the studies were carried out. Only the pages of text in the unpublished manuscripts are numbered in consecutive order. The figures and tables are not numbered (and thus not included in the page counts) but are inserted in between text pages in the results section of each manuscript after their first citation. Show more