The purpose of this research was to evaluate the serum cortisol and immunoglobulin-A (IgA) responses to maximal progressive exercise in elite male and female athletes. Twenty-four elite athletes who had experience in national team or played on league championship voluntarily participated in this study ( ages: 22.46±3.37 yr, height: 175.54±8.68 cm, weight: 70.02±13.60 kg, body fat percent: 15.86±5.78 and maximal oxygen uptake: 55.14±7.39 ml/kg/min). Subjects that included eleven male and thirteen female performed progressive exercise test on treadmill. Blood samples were taken for analysis of cortisol and IgA concentration. The results showed that serum cortisol concentration significantly increased in both male and female elite athletes after incremental exercise. However, there was not any significant changes in serum IgA levels in both groups following incremental exercise. Based on our results, it could be concluded that maximal progressive exercise increased serum cortisol concentration but it didn’t affect on serum IgA concentration.
