The impact of glutamine supplementation on muscle fatigue markers in rats

Abstract

Lactate is a metabolite resulting from glycolysis, which occurs in the sarcoplasm, produced in proportion to muscle activity. The synthesis of ammonia muscle during prolonged exercise is related to the concentration of adenosine monophosphate and the catabolism of amino acids, equivalent to the increase in lactate concentration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of glutamine supplementation on indicators of muscle fatigue in rats. A total of 24 male Wistar rats, adults aged 6 to 8 months of age, divided into four groups: sedentary (SED), sedentary supplemented with glutamine (GSED), trained (TRA) and trained supplemented with glutamine (GTRA). With weights tied to its tail (2% to 5% of body weight), both groups TRA and GTRA underwent two weeks of swimming training. On the last day all groups were submitted to acute exercise, then were anesthetized and had blood collected. The determination of metabolites was performed by spectrophotometry. The levels of lactate and ammonia was no significant difference when comparing the four groups, although groups TRA and GTRE were more protected from hyperammonemia and the increase in LAC. Therefore, it was concluded that supplementation with GLN associated with chronic training inhibited significant elevations of lactate and ammonia, when compared withthe sedentary groups, supplemented or not.