Excessive physical exercise caused a decrease in CD4+ and Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) levels in Wistar rats

Abstract

Background: Excessive physical exercise can cause injury and disrupt the body's homeostasis. Excessive physical exercise also causes increasing oxygen demand and reactive oxygen species production (ROS) that induce damage in various cells and body tissue, including HSC and CD4+ cells. This study aims to prove that excessive physical exercise decreases the CD4+ and HSC levels in Wistar rats and evaluates the correlation between HSC and CD4+ cell levels. Methods: An experimental study with a randomized post-test-only control group design was conducted among 44 male Wistar rats in Clinical Pathology Laboratory, Mangusada General Hospital, Bali, from June to September 2022. The samples were divided into two groups; 22 rats received excessive physical exercise (treatment group) and 22 rats as the control group. The CD4+ cells and HSC were examined after 14 days of intervention. Data regarding the means of CD4+ and HSC levels between the two groups were assessed, and the correlation between HSC and CD4+ cell levels was analyzed using SPSS version 21 for Windows. Results: We used 22 rats for each treatment and control group. The mean level of CD4+ and HSC were significantly lower in the treatment group compared to the control group (356.41 vs. 661.41x106 cell/µl; p<0.001) and (359.14 vs. 551.09 x106 cell/µl). We found a statistically significant difference in CD4+ and HSC levels between the two groups, p<0.001). We also found a positive correlation between HSC and CD4+ level with r=0.636; p<0.001. Excessive physical exercise affected the immune function by decreasing CD4+ ad HSC levels in Wistar rats. Conclusions: The impact of excessive physical exercise on immune function showed by decreasing the level of CD4+ and HSC level in Wistar rats. The HSC number also has a positive correlation with CD4+ cell level.