OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of M3P (containing Deer antler, Cordyceps sinensis, Rhodiola rosea, and Panax ginseng); an herbal remedy with the function of tonifying Kidney (Shen) and invigorating Spleen (Pi), replenishing qi and nourishing blood; on fatigue alleviation, endurance capacity and toxicity. METHODS: Swimming with weight-loading of 24 male ICR mice was used to evaluate the endurance capacity, and fatigue-related plasma biomarkers were determined. Mice were randomly assigned to control or M3P treatment groups with 6 mice for each group and were orally administered with M3P everyday for 8 weeks at doses 0, 10, 33 or 100 mg/kg. Swimming time to exhaustion was measured in a specialized water tank. Lliver and kidney functions, body weight, and hematological profile were determined to evaluate the safety and toxicity after long-term M3P administration. RESULTS: M3P supplementation 100 mg/kg significantly increased swimming endurance time up to approximate 2.4 folds of controls (P<0.05). The plasma concentrations of cortisol and hepatic glycogen content were significantly increased in mice received M3P (P<0.05, P<0.01 respectively). The lactic acid level and blood glucose were not changed after M3P treatment (P>0.05). The liver and kidney functions muscle damage biomarker creatine, body weight, and hemograms were not altered in M3P supplementation (P>0.05). CONCLUSION M3P supplementation may improve swimming endurance accompanied by increasing hepatic glycogen content and serum cortisol level without major toxicity.
Animals ; Body Weight ; Deer ; Dietary Supplements ; Fatigue/drug therapy* ; Hydrocortisone ; Liver Glycogen ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Swimming/physiology*

OBJECTIVETo detect the levels of miR-499 and relative proteins in hearts of mice after exercise training, and investigate the mechanism of exercise-regulative apoptosis.

METHODSMale C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 3 groups( n = 14): sedentary (SE), exercise training 1 (ET1) and exercise training 2 (ET2) group. SE did not do any exercise. ET1 performed swimming training for 8 weeks. ET2 performed the same work as ET1 until the 5th week. Then, mice trained twice a day until the end of training. TUNEL assay was applied to test myocardial apoptosis, RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect miR-499 and proteins levels respectively.

RESULTSCompared with SE, stress in ET1 failed to affect apoptotic index (AI) and miR-499-CaN-Drp-1 pathway (P > 0.05). In contrast, exercise load in ET2 increased miR-499 level, decreased Drp-1 level and AI with statistical significance respectively (P < 0.05), but neither CaN expression nor CaN activity was changed significantly (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSwimming training can inhibit myocardial apoptosis, and the decrease in Drp-l may be responsible for the reduced myocardial apoptosis. CaN, the upstream protein, does not participate in exercise-regulative apoptosis.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; Dynamins ; metabolism ; Heart ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; MicroRNAs ; metabolism ; Mitochondria, Heart ; physiology ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Swimming

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Chinese medicine (CM) Schisandra chinensis on interleukin (IL), glucose metabolism, and pituitary-adrenal and gonadal axis of rats after strenuous navigation and exercise.

METHODSA total of 45 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into the quiet control group, the stress group, and the CM group (15 in each group). The CM group received 2.5 g/kg of Schisandra chinensis twice per day for one week before modeling. Except the quiet controls, rats were trained using the Bedford mode for 10 days. On the 11th day, they performed 3 h of stressful experimental navigation and 3 h of strenuous treadmill exercise. The levels of serum testosterone (T), cortisol (CORT), luteinizing hormone (LH), IL-1, IL-2, and IL-6 were tested by radioimmunoassay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The adrenal cortex ultrastructure was observed using electron microscopy.

RESULTSCompared with the quiet control group, after navigation and strenuous exercise, blood glucose was increased, and T level was decreased in the stress group (both P<0.01). The blood glucose, CORT, IL-1 and IL-2 levels were significantly reduced in the CM group (P<0.05 or P<0.01) as compared with the stress group. Electron microscopy revealed that the rats in the CM group had a smaller decrease in adrenal intracellular lipid droplets and higher levels of apoptosis than those in the stress group.

CONCLUSIONSSchisandra chinensis can reduce serum CORT and blood glucose levels in stressed rats. It appears to protect the cell structure of the adrenal cortex, and offset the negative effects of psychological stress and strenuous exercise related to immune dysfunction. Schisandra chinensis plays a regulatory role in immune function, and can decrease the influence of stress in rats.

Adrenal Cortex ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Animals ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Gonads ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Hydrocortisone ; blood ; Interleukin-1 ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Interleukins ; blood ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Male ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Pituitary-Adrenal System ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Schisandra ; chemistry ; Swimming ; physiology ; Testosterone ; blood

This study is to offer a clinical pain-depression dyad therapy of ferulic acid, the pain-depression dyad induced by reserpine was established and the dose-effect relationship of ferulic acid on ameliorating pain-depression dyad was explored. Mice were randomly divided into control group, reserpine + vechile and reserpine + ferulic acid (5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg x kg(-1)) groups. The reserpine treated mice were tested with thermal hyperalgesia, mechanicial allodynia and forced swimming tests, and the SOD and NO levels of hippocampus and frontal cortex were measured. Moreover, the HPLC-ECD was used to detect the changes of central monoamines concentrations. Compared with control group, reserpine can induce a significant decrease in the nociceptive threshold and increase in the immobility time of the forced swimming test. The results suggested that reserpine significantly increased the level of nitrite in hippocampus and frontal cortex and reduced the levels of SOD, 5-HT and NE in these two brain regions. However, these indexes can be a dose-dependently reversed by ferulic acid (5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg x kg(-1)). Ferulic acid can reverse pain-depression dyad, especially at the dose of 80 mg x kg(-1). In addition, it can influence oxidative stress and monoamine level.
Animals ; Antidepressive Agents ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Coumaric Acids ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Depression ; chemically induced ; complications ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Dopamine ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Frontal Lobe ; metabolism ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Hyperalgesia ; physiopathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Norepinephrine ; metabolism ; Pain ; chemically induced ; complications ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Pain Measurement ; Random Allocation ; Reserpine ; adverse effects ; Serotonin ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Swimming ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo describe the occurrence of various spinal deformations in a captive-bred wild line of Poecilia wingei (P. wingei).

METHODSFish belonging to a wild line of P. wingei caught from Laguna de Los Patos, Venezuela, were bred in an aquarium home-breeding system during a period of three years (2006-2009). The spinal curvature was observed to study spinal deformities in P. wingei.

RESULTSOut of a total of 600 fish, 22 showed different types of deformities (scoliosis, lordosis, kyphosis), with a higher incidence in females. Growth, swimming and breeding of deformed fish were generally normal.

CONCLUSIONSPossible causes for spinal curvature in fish are discussed on the basis of the current literature. While it is not possible to determine the exact cause(s) of spinal deformities observed in the present study, traumatic injuries, nutritional imbalances, genetic defects or a combination of these factors can be supposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of such lesions.

Animals ; Female ; Incidence ; Kyphosis ; congenital ; epidemiology ; veterinary ; Lordosis ; congenital ; epidemiology ; veterinary ; Male ; Poecilia ; abnormalities ; growth & development ; physiology ; Reproduction ; Scoliosis ; congenital ; epidemiology ; veterinary ; Swimming

This paper presents a preliminary study of rabbit experiment modality incorporating a new indicator for evaluating cardiac function changes, providing a basis for subsequent study of cardiac fatigue. Using only biochemical indicators, such as troponins, is difficult to make a distinction between exercise-induced cardiac fatigue (EICF) and exercise-induced cardiac damage (EICD). Therefore, some new indicators are needed to evaluate cardiac fatigue synthetically. In our study, we used New Zealand white rabbits to conduct a multi-step swimming experiments with load. We made the rabbits reach an exhaustive state to evaluate whether the amplitude ratio of the first to second heart sound (S1/S2) and heart rate (HR) during the exhaustive exercise would be decreased and whether they would be able to recover after the exhaustive exercise for 24 hours. During the first phase of swimming, S1/S2 and HR were increased, and then decreased at exhaustive state. They were recovered after the exhaustive exercise for 24 hours. Overloading led to deaths of three rabbis, and new phenomena from overloading and related to this kind of death were observed. The experiments proved that Multi-steps swimming experiments with loads by using New Zealand white rabbit is useful for studying cardiac fatigue and premonition of sudden cardiac death.
Animals ; Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Female ; Heart ; physiology ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Male ; Muscle Fatigue ; physiology ; Myocardial Contraction ; physiology ; Myocardium ; chemistry ; Physical Endurance ; physiology ; Rabbits ; Stress, Physiological ; physiology ; Swimming

OBJECTIVETo illustrate the molecular mechanism of skeletal muscle growth by examining the effect of swimming training on skeletal muscle growth and p70s6k, rpS6 protein expression.

METHODSTwenty four male SD rats were used to establish swimming training models with a 15% body mass load. The training protocol adopted interval swimming training (every other day with 8 weeks). The gastrocnemius and soleus muscle were collected and weighed after training, and the protein expression of p70s6k, rpS6 and their phosphorylated forms were examined.

RESULTSAfter 8 weeks treatment, no significant change was observed in skeletal muscle mass between training group (T) and control group (C) (P > 0.05), but muscle mass in training rapamycin (TR) group has a significantly decrease compared with that in T and C groups (P < 0.05). Soleus and gastrocnemius muscle mass index in T group increased significantly compared with C group (P < 0.05). Compared with the C group, the ratio of P-p70s6k/p70s6k in T group increased with significant difference (P < 0.05), but the ratio in TR group was significantly reduced (P < 0.05). The ratio of P-rpS6/rpS6 had a significant difference between TR and T group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThese results suggest that the interval training protocol is helpful to increase the relative muscle hypertrophy, and has a role in promoting the expression of p70s6k and rpS6.

Animals ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal ; growth & development ; metabolism ; physiology ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 70-kDa ; metabolism ; Swimming

Adolescent ; Exercise Tolerance ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Oxygen Consumption ; physiology ; Swimming ; physiology ; Young Adult

64 eight-week-old female rats were randomly divided into to 8 groups with four in medical treatment group and four in control group. The treatment groups were trained by progressive intensifying endurance swimming, and the medical-taken groups were fed with lycium for 5 weeks, and then the changes of the liver cellular free radical metabolism and ultrastructure were investigated. The effects of lycium and endurance training on liver cellular ultrastructure and free radical metabolism in rats were then explored. The results showed that exhaustive swimming time of rats could be extended by endurance training, and that exhaustive swimming time of rats could significantly be prolonged after taking lycium, and the ultrastructure of liver cell with taking lycium was more complete than that without taking lyceum. Lycium could cause significant increase of the activity of liver superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the ratio of SOD/MDA, and meanwhile cause decrease of the content of liver MDA. Conclusions can be drawn that lycium and endurance training can improve exercise capacity of rats, and lycium has certain protecting functions of the liver.
Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Free Radicals ; metabolism ; Liver ; metabolism ; ultrastructure ; Lycium ; chemistry ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Physical Endurance ; physiology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Swimming ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo study the dynamic changes of serum CK, CK-MB and myocardium histomorphology in different time periods after single bout and repeated exhausted exercise in rats.

METHODSThe animal models of myocardial injury were established by exhausted swimming. Creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase mass (CK-MB) activities in serum were measured immediately at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 hours after exhausted exercise, and the dynamic changes of myocardial histopathology were examined.

RESULTSThe CK, CK-MB activities were significantly increased immediately at 3, 6, 12 hours and peaked at 6 hours after single bout of exhausted exercise, meantime the degree of inflammatory cell infiltrate and strong acidophil staining were gradually increased in myocardium of rat, and the myocardial injury was most severe at 12 hours. After 1-week consecutive daily exhausted swimming, CK, CK-MB in serum were obviously increased immediately at, 3, 6, 12, 48 and 96 hours postexercise and peaked immediately and at 96 hours respectively postexercise. There were different degrees of myocardial injury in different time of recovery phase, and was most severe at 48 hours postexercise.

CONCLUSIONThe myocardial injury was induced by excessive exercise and/or exhausted exercise, and the resulting delayed-onset myocardial injury was further certified.

Animals ; Creatine Kinase ; blood ; Creatine Kinase, MB Form ; blood ; Fatigue ; blood ; Male ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Physical Exertion ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Swimming ; physiology