Comparing Levels of Serum IgA, IgG, IgM and Cortisol in the Professional Bodybuilding Athletes and Non-Athletes

Background : Bodybuilding athlete's bodies are placed under much pressure in during the exercise, which is causing changes in the immune and hormone system in the long term. The purpose of this study was to compare levels of serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and cortisol in the professional bodybuilding athletes (BA) and the non-athletes (NA) male.
Materials and Methods : This study was a descriptive-analytic and 29 volunteer subjects in the professional BA and NA men participated. Levels of serum IgA, IgG, IgM using Single Radial Immunodiffusion (SRID) and levels of serum cortisol using Radioimmunoassay (RIA) were measured with blood sampling from brachial vein at rest and fasting. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test (p<0.05).
Results : There were not any significant differences between the mean levels of serum IgA, IgG, IgM in the BA than the NA (p>0.05), while, the levels of serum cortisol (22.10±2.60 vs. 15.41±3.44 μg/dl, U=0.001, p=0.001) significantly greater in the BA than the NA.
Conclusion : The results of this study showed that participation in training and competitions bodybuilding has no effect on serum levels of IgG, IgA, IgM, but increased levels of serum cortisol.