Median of the percentage of white blood cells population: A) lymphocyte (CD45+) subsets, including: B) T cells (CD3+), C) helper/inducer T cells (Th; CD3+CD4+), D) suppressor/cytotoxic T cells (Tc; CD3+CD8+), E) natural killer cells (NK; CD3–CD16+ and/or CD56+) and F) B cells (CD19+) of studied participants’ blood samples during the experiment at the beginning of preparatory phase to spring and autumn competition round, respectively.
Blood immunophenotyping protocol was performed using commercial antibodies assay kit (BD Multitest IMK Kit) according to the manufacturer instructions and analysed using BD Accuri™ C6 flow cytometer.
The midpoint represents median; box represents interquartile range; whiskers represent min-max range. Significance level of differences observed between spring and autumn experiment was calculated using Wilcoxon’s matched-pairs test. Significance level of differences observed between analysed time points (pre-exercise vs. post-exercise vs. recovery) was assessed using Friedman’s analysis of variance followed by post-hoc Dunn’s test with Bonferroni correction.