Investigation of trancriptional changes in blood after intense exercise.

Four young elite female athletes completed exercise sessions mimicking an actual triathlon competition. Prior to exercise tests, all participants underwent Doppler echocardiography. Blood samples were taken immediately before the exercise, right after the exercise, and then 1, 2, and 7 days later. Analysis cell counts and routine biochemical parameters was complemented by RNA sequencing to whole blood samples. To investigate immune cell type-specific gene expression changes, the ImSig set of immune cell gene signatures was utilized. The applied exercise load did not trigger remarkable changes in either cardiovascular or biochemical parameters of trained, young athletes; however, it caused a significant increase in the percentage of neutrophils and a significant reduction in the ratio of lymphocytes in the blood immediately after exercise. Our results suggest that RNA-seq to whole blood together with ImSig analysis are useful tools for investigation of systemic responses to endurance exercise.