Abstract
BackgroundCreatine supplementation is known to exert an effect by increasing strength in high intensity and short duration exercises. There is a hypothesis which suggests that creatine supplementation may provide antioxidant activity by scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species. However, the antioxidant effect of creatine supplementation associated with resistance training has not yet been described in the literature. Therefore, we investigated the effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation associated with resistance training over maximum strength gain and oxidative stress in rats.MethodsForty male Wistar rats (250-300 g, 90 days old) were randomly allocated into 4 groups: Sedentary (SED, n = 10), Sedentary + Creatine (SED-Cr, n = 10), Resistance Training (RT, n = 10) and Resistance Training + Creatine (RT-Cr, n = 10). Trained animals were submitted to the RT protocol (4 series of 10–12 repetitions, 90 second interval, 4 times per week, 65% to 75% of 1MR, for 8 weeks).ResultsIn this study, greater strength gain was observed in the SED-Cr, RT and RT-Cr groups compared to the SED group (P < 0.001). The RT-Cr group showed a higher maximum strength gain when compared to other groups (P < 0.001). Creatine supplementation associated with resistance training was able to reduce lipoperoxidation in the plasma (P < 0.05), the heart (P < 0.05), the liver (P < 0.05) and the gastrocnemius (P < 0.05) when compared to control groups. However, the supplementation had no influence on catalase activity (CAT) in the analyzed organs. Only in the heart was the CAT activity higher in the RT-Cr group (P < 0.05). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was lower in all of the analyzed organs in the SED-Cr group (P < 0.05), while SOD activity was lower in the trained group and sedentary supplemented group (P < 0.05).ConclusionsCreatine was shown to be an effective non-enzymatic antioxidant with supplementation alone and also when it was associated with resistance training in rats.
Highlights
Creatine supplementation is known to exert an effect by increasing strength in high intensity and short duration exercises
The trained groups demonstrated lower body weight gain when compared to the SED-Cr group (P < 0.01), while the Resistance Training (RT) group presented lower body weight gain compared to the SED and RT-Cr groups (P < 0.05)
Maximum strength gain In relation to absolute maximal strength gain (Figure 1a), a higher strength gain was observed in the creatine supplemented groups and in the group only submitted to RT, compared to the SED group (P < 0.001)
Summary
Creatine supplementation is known to exert an effect by increasing strength in high intensity and short duration exercises. There is a hypothesis which suggests that creatine supplementation may provide antioxidant activity by scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species. The antioxidant effect of creatine supplementation associated with resistance training has not yet been described in the literature. We investigated the effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation associated with resistance training over maximum strength gain and oxidative stress in rats. Other studies have in investigated the antioxidant effect of creatine supplementation. In a cell-free experiment, the ability of creatine to quench reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, such as H2O2 and ONOO−, in muscle homogenates was observed [5]. The first study reporting antioxidant activity related to creatine supplementation in living cells was performed by Sestili and colleagues in 2006 [6]. A recent study pointed out the pleiotropic effects of creatine and its possible direct antioxidant effect in scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) [7]
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