Fig. 5

Effects of a single continuous and interval exercise on CD8⁺ T-cell cholesterol and activation levels. Peripheral blood samples of healthy donors (n = 12) were analysed at different time points before and after exercise (before, directly after, 1 h after and 24 h after exercise), in which each donor at least completed one training program (CONT, 8/12 donors and HIT, 9/12 donors) to quantify the level of cholesterol and to analyse the CD69 expression on CD8⁺ T cells. Data are shown in total as mean ± SD. Statistically significant difference is indicated by (*p < 0.05) and (**p < 0.01). Cholesterol and cell activation related parameters were obtained as a Cholesterol (µM)/1 × 10⁶ cells (Amplex Red Cholesterol Assay Kit) and b CD69 expression on CD8⁺ T cells (flow cytometry). c Additionally, the cholesterol level was analysed regarding the donors’ fitness level. 4/12 donors were classified as donors with a high fitness levels (CONT n = 3/4 and HIT n = 2/4) and 8/12 as donors with a moderate fitness level (CONT n = 5/8 and HIT n = 7/8)