The Effect of Sprint Training on Skeletal Muscle Carnosine in Humans

Abstract

It has been suggested that histidine-containing dipeptide carnosine (β-alanyl-L-histidine), which is believed to act as a cytosolic buffering agent, is present predominantly in skeletal muscle. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sprint training (30-s maximal cycle ergometer sprinting) on muscle carnosine concentration. Six untrained males trained 2 days per week for 8 weeks on an electronic-braked cycle ergometer. Muscle biopsy samples were taken from the vastus lateralis before and two days after the last training session and were analyzed for carnosine concentration by the use of an amino acid autoanalyzer. The carnosine concentration was significantly increased after sprint training (P < 0.05). The mean power during 30-s maximal cycle ergometer sprinting was significantly increased following training. When dividing the 30-s sprinting into 6 phases (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-30 s), the magnitude of increase in mean power was significantly larger for the last 2 phases than the first phase (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the increases in skeletal muscle carnosine concentration following sprint training may be associated with the increase in sustainability of high power during 30-s maximal cycle ergometer sprinting.