Abstract
Purpose: Nutritional supplementation in conjunction with exercise is of interest for the prevention or improvement of declines in motor performances in older adults. An understanding of the effects on both young and older adults contributes to its effective application. We investigated the effect of fish protein ingestion with resistance training on neural and muscular adaptations in young adults using interventions and assessments that have already been tested in older adults.Methods: Eighteen young adults underwent 8 weeks of isometric knee extension training. During the intervention, nine participants ingested 5 g of fish protein (n = 9, Alaska pollack protein, APP), and the other nine participants ingested casein as a control (n = 9, CAS) in addition to daily meals. Before, during, and after the intervention, the isometric knee extension force, lower extremity muscle mass, and motor unit firing pattern of knee extensor muscles were measured.Results: Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was significantly increased in both APP and CAS groups from 0 weeks to 4, 6, and 8 weeks of intervention (p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences between the groups (p = 0.546–0.931). Muscle mass was not significantly changed during the intervention in either group (p = 0.250–0.698). Significant changes in motor unit firing rates (p = 0.02 and 0.029 for motor units recruited at 20–40% of MVC and at 40–60%) were observed following the intervention in the APP but not CAS (p = 0.120–0.751) group.Conclusions: These results suggest that dietary fish protein ingestion changes motor unit adaptations following resistance training in young adults.
Highlights
Protein supplementation enhances increases in muscle volume and strength following resistance training when the training regimen and nutritional program are adequate [1]
We investigated the effect of fish protein ingestion with resistance training on neural and muscular adaptations in young adults using interventions and assessments that have already been tested in older adults
Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was significantly increased in both APP and CAS groups from 0 weeks to 4, 6, and 8 weeks of intervention (p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences between the groups (p = 0.546–0.931)
Summary
Protein supplementation enhances increases in muscle volume and strength following resistance training when the training regimen and nutritional program are adequate [1]. Since protein supplementation improves muscle protein synthesis following resistance training [2], this enhanced gain in muscle strength can be explained by the enhanced muscle hypertrophy, which is categorized as muscular adaptation. Neural adaptation explains gains in muscle strength following resistance exercise, such as changes in motor unit firing properties and recruitment patterns [3,4,5]. We previously reported a trade-off relationship between neural and muscular factors during intervention involving resistance training with protein supplementation. Since previous studies already reported that fish protein intake induced greater muscle hypertrophy when compared with casein intake in rat muscle, enhancements of muscle hypertrophy following resistance training by the ingestion of fish protein in older adults may be likely to be reasonable [10,11,12]
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