Regular tai chi chuan exercise enhances functional mobility and CD4CD25 regulatory T cells

Abstract

Background: The duration and vigour of physical exercise are widely considered to be critical elements that may positively or negatively affect physical health and immune response. Objectives: To investigate the effect of a 12 week programme of regular tai chi chuan exercise (TCC) on functional mobility, beliefs about benefits of exercise on physical and psychological health, and immune regulation in middle aged volunteers. Methods: This quasi-experimental research design involving one group with testing before and after the programme was conducted to measure the effect of 12 weeks of TCC exercise in 14 men and 23 women from the normal community. Results: Regular TCC exercise had a highly significant positive effect on functional mobility (p = 0.001) and beliefs about the health benefits of exercise (p = 0.013) in the 37 participants. Total white blood cell and red blood cell count did not change significantly, but a highly significant (p,0.001) decrease in monocyte count occurred. A significant (p = 0.05) increase in the ratio of T helper to suppressor cells (CD4:CD8) was found, along with a significant (p = 0.015) increase in CD4CD25 regulatory T cells. Production of the regulatory T cell mediators transforming growth factor b and interleukin 10 under specific antigen stimulation (varicella zoster virus) was also significantly increased after this exercise programme. Conclusions: A 12 week programme of regular TCC exercise enhances functional mobility, personal health expectations, and regulatory T cell function.

The influence of exercise training status on antigen-stimulated IL-10 production in whole blood culture and numbers of circulating regulatory T cells

“…For example, in mice Wang et al (2012) demonstrated higher in vivo IL-10 production and CD4 + IL10 + /CD4 + FoxP3 + Treg percentage following 6 weeks of high-intensity training. Furthermore, higher absolute circulating CD4 + CD25 + Treg cell counts and a 1.8-fold increase in in vitro IL-10 production were observed in response to a 12-week tai chi chuan exercise programme in 37 middle-aged participants (Yeh et al 2006). Surprisingly, the same protocol did not induce an increase in Treg cell counts in the case-control study (Yeh et al 2009).…”

“…It is possible that methods could partially explain discrepancies in both studies, where in the first Tregs were assessed by labeling CD4 and CD25 cell surface receptors, while in the latter study qPCR was chosen to quantify FoxP3 mRNA, a Treg characteristic transcription factor. Since Yeh et al (2006) examined middle-aged participants, it remained unknown whether these training-induced effects on resting Tregs and IL-10 would be evident in younger and more physically active individuals. Indeed, this was the key finding of the present study.…”

“…Regular moderate intensity exercise, in the form of a 12-week tai chi chuan intervention programme, was seen to result in significant elevations in IL-10 secretion responses in middle-aged individuals (Yeh et al 2006). More recently, elevations in antigen-stimulated whole blood IL-10 production have been reported in individuals engaged in high levels (~14 h/week) of moderate-vigorous endurance exercise compared with those performing relatively moderate (~5 h/week) training loads (Gleeson et al 2012).…”

A randomized clinical trial of alternative stress management interventions in persons with HIV infection.

“…Tai chi has been reported to have multiple beneficial effects, including reduced anxiety, stress, and pain (Adler, Good, Roberts, & Snyder, 2000;Bhatti, Gillin, & Atkinson, 1998); increased balance, strength, and flexibility (Wolf, Coogler, & Xu, 1997); improved psychological states such as depression; and attenuated declines associated with aging and inactivity (D. R. Brown et al, 1995;Jin, 1991;Kutner, Barnhart, Wolf, McNeely, & Xu, 1997;Li et al, 2001;Sandlund & Norlander, 2000). Additionally, tai chi has been shown to enhance immune function in middle-aged and elderly individuals (Irwin, Olmstead, & Oxman, 2007;Yeh, Chuang, Lin, Hsiao, & Eng, 2006).…”

A Preliminary Study of Using Kinect-based Physical Rehabilitation System to Perform Tai Chi Exercises with FLS Evaluation

“…By striding out and shifting the body's center of gravity, it is useful for the patients with movement disorder to train the ability of maintaining balance [4]. In past, Yeh, et al [5] showed that performing regular Tai Chi exercise program for twelve weeks can effectively enhance functional mobility, and further increase T cell mediators transforming growth factor β and interleukin 10. As described in the article of Hackney and Earhart [6], thirty-three people with PD were randomly categorized into two groups, Tai Chi group and control group.…”