Abstract
Chronic chlorella intake enhances aerobic exercise capacities, i.e. exercise tolerance. High intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) training enhances aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacities via elevation of muscle glycolytic and oxidative metabolism. However, the additive effects of combination of HIIE training and chlorella intake on exercise performance and muscle glycolytic and oxidative metabolism remain unclear. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of chronic chlorella intake alone or in combination with HIIE training on exercise performance and muscle glycolytic and oxidative metabolism in rats. METHODS: Male 12-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to the four groups; sedentary control, chlorella intake (0.5% chlorella powder in normal feed), HIIE training, and combination of HIIE training and chlorella intake for 6 weeks (n = 10 each group). HIIE training comprised 14 repeats of a 20-s swimming session with a 10-s pause between sessions, while bearing a weight equivalent to 16% of body weight, 4 days/week. Exercise performance was tested after the interventions by measuring the maximal number of HIIE sessions that could be completed. RESULTS: Chlorella intake and HIIE training significantly increased the maximal number of HIIE, and enhanced the expression of monocarboxylate transporter (MCT)1, MCT4, and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ coactivator-1α concomitantly with the activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), phosphofructokinase, citrate synthase (CS), and cytochrome oxidase (COX) in the red region of the gastrocnemius muscle (p<0.05). Furthermore, the combination further augmented the increased exercise performance and the enhanced expressions and activities (p<0.05). By contrast, in the white region of the gastrocnemius muscle, MCT1 expression and LDH, CS, and COX activities did not change. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that compared to only chlorella intake and only HIIE training, chlorella intake combined with HIIE training has a more pronounced effect on exercise performance and muscle glycolytic and oxidative metabolism, in particular lactate metabolism. Supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (#26282199, M. Iemitsu)
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