The Effects of Exercise Conditioning on Protein Production in Rat Muscle Trauma

Abstract

The effect of prior exercise conditioning, on the collagenous and non-collagenous protein contents of skeletal muscle of the lower limb during recovery from acute blunt trauma were investigated. One hundred and twelve, Sprague-Dawley rats were trained following a common eight week endurance training program, producing a significant (p<0.05) increase in citrate synthase activity of the skeletal muscle¹⁾. The training protocol was implemented to duplicate the reaction to injury and to follow-up recovery on muscle which had been pre-conditioned by exercise. Rats of the same weight were then randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups following the eight weeks of training. Muscle trauma was produced utilizing a humane and reproducible experimental device. After the different treatments for ten days, results indicated that animals in the exercise trauma, produced more collagen in traumatized lower limb muscles than rats in the exercise no trauma (ENT), exercise trauma, untreated (ET), and exercise trauma groups (p<0.05). The amount of non-collagenous contractile protein was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the ENT group compared to the ET. The results suggest that the exercise has a protective effect on muscle and on the production of collagen in traumatized skeletal muscle. Finally, prior experience conditioning protected against injury and improved muscle recovery.