Activation of natural killer cell function in recreational athletes with paraplegia during a wheelchair half-marathon race

Furusawa K, Tajima F, Umezu Y, Ueta M, Ide M, Mizushima T, Ogata H. Activation of natural killer cell function in recreational athletes with paraplegia during a wheelchair half-marathon race. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2003;84:706-11. To investigate a part of the immune homeostasis in recreational athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI) during and after a wheelchair half-marathon race. Case-control study in an actual race. The half-marathon division of an international wheelchair marathon race in Japan. Seven male wheelchair racers with SCI between T7 and L1. Not applicable. Changes in the number and function of natural killer (NK) cells and the endocrine effects, including plasma catecholamines and cortisol in blood samples obtained the day before the race, immediately after it, and 1 day after the race. Both the percentage and absolute number of peripheral NK cells did not change significantly throughout the experiment. Mean NK cell cytotoxic activity ± standard deviation increased significantly, from 45.5%±7.5% to 56.1%±5.1% ( P