Effects of High Intensity and Endurance Metabolism in Rats Exercise on Protein

Abstract

Effects of treadmill running on the metabolism of protein in several tissues were studied in male Wistar rats, aged 5 weeks and weighing about 100g. Rats were divided into sedentary and exercise groups with free food intake. Exercise program consisted of treadmill running of 60 minutes a day at 30m/min on 6 days a week for 12 weeks. The effects of exercise were as follows. l) Lowering of body weight and increment in mg tissue/g body weight ratios. 2) Significantly low level of protein content in liver and kidney. 3) Promotion in vivo incorporation of ¹⁴C-amino acid mixture into gastrocnemius muscle and liver protein. 4) In brain, both of protein content and incorporation of ¹⁴C=amino acid mixture were not affected. From this study it was suggested that, when loaded with high intensity and long duration of exercise, protein content and protein synthesis tended to show reciprocal changes. And that maintenance of protein content and protein turnover in brain indicated the existence of internal mechanism for life conservation in severe environment.