Ferula hermonis root extract increases fiber size and myonuclear number within tibialis anterior muscle of exercised rats

Abstract

Ferula hermonis Boiss. is an aphrodisiac plant that grows in the Mediterranean region. It has been reported that acute treatment with the extract from the root of this plant significantly increases serum testosterone in the rat. This study investigates the effects of F. hermonis extract alone or combined with exercise on rat skeletal muscle fibers. Adult male rats were divided into four groups: control sedentary (CS) that had no treatment or exercise; ferula sedentary (FS) that orally treated with ferula extract at a dose of 60 mg/kg/rat every other day over a period of 20 days; control exercised (CE) that trained by swimming for 40 minutes every other day; and ferula exercised (FE) that received combined treatment and exercise. At the end of experiments, the left tibialis anterior muscle was dissected for study from each rat. Fiber diameter, myonuclear number and myonuclear domain size were measured by using immunofluorescent techniques and software analyses. FE group showed significant (P<0.05) increases in muscle weight, fiber size and myonuclear number compared to the remaining groups. However, no significant variations were found among CS, FS and CE groups. This study concludes that exercise combined with administration of F. hermonis extract is more effective in enhancing the growth of skeletal muscle fibers than exercise alone. Funds for this study were provided by the Deanship of Research at JUST (34/2010).Grant Funding Source: JUST