Table II.

T cell subsets and plasma cytokine levels of soccer players during progressive tests until exhaustion.

	Period 1. The beginning of the competition round			Period 2. The end of the competition round
	n=13
	pre-exercise	post-exercise	recovery	pre-exercise	post-exercise	recovery
Total lymphocytes (%)	23.4 (18.9–28.3)	29.1 (26.9–33.4)	27.0 (20.8–29.0)	23.8 (15.7–34.9)a)**	29.9 (28.2–31.4)b)***	26.5 (22.0–26.9)
T-cells (%)	65.5 (62.3–71.9) a)**	59.1 (53.8–60.7) b)****	68.3 (65.7–74.1)	68.9 (62.1–71.4)	61.3 (55.0–65.3) b)*****	74.6 (67.4–75.7) c)*
Tc-naïve cells (%)	61.2 (46.8–71.5)	46.3 (35.4–58.1) b)****	72.8 (50.3–81.0)	60.5 (54.6–63.1)	53.5 (43.7–56.0) b)*****	68.0 (64.9–75.6) c)**
Th-cells (%)	57.5 (52.1–60.5) a)**	48.4 (45.3–52.1) b)***	56.8 (45.2–64.3)	52.5 (49.3–56.9) a)*	46.2 (43.2–52.7) b)***	59.1 (53.3–61.6)
Th-naïve cells (%)	62.1 (56.8–73.7)	60.0 (52.1–65.8) b)**	73.7 (59.2–74.6)	55.9 (51.7–64.4)	52.3 (42.9–57.7)	50.7 (46.1–60.5)
IL-10 (pg/mL)	0.87 (0.37–1.13) a)**	2.40 (1.99–2.70)	2.13 (1.32–2.36)	1.78 (1.24–2.03) a)**	2.89 (2.38–4.20)	4.05 (3.59–4.58) c)****
TNF-α (pg/mL)	2.46 (1.99–2.79)	2.99 (2.14–3.26)	3.65 (2.79–3.65) c)*	2.47 (1.98–2.78) a)**	4.87 (4.57–5.02)	4.98 (4.57–6.59) c)***
IL-12p70 (pg/mL)	2.32 (1.80–2.45)	1.99 (1.65–2.65)	2.36 (1.70–2.65)	2.18 (1.89–2.58)	3.97 (2.98–4.58)	6.42 (5.64–7.89) c)*****
IL-6 (pg/mL)	1.03 (0.25–2.36)	1.25 (0.72–1.36)	1.26 (0.36–2.15)	1.58 (1.23–1.87)	1.58 (1.25–1.99)	2.03 (1.58–2.16)

The table presents median (interquartile range) values.

Significance levels of differences observed between analysed time points (pre-test vs. post-test vs. recovery) were assessed using Friedman’s analysis of variance followed by post-hoc Dunn’s tests with Bonferroni correction.

The results of post-hoc analyses: a) pre-exercise vs. post-exercise; b) post-exercise vs. recovery; c) pre-exercise vs. recovery.

* p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001; **** p<0.0001; ***** p<0.00001

n – number of participants.