1995 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 128-136
To elucidate the influence of the diet and teeth loss on the endurance performance in addition to aging, 49 Wistar male rats (30-75 weeks old) were divided into four groups: the pre-feeding group (before experiments had been begun), the control group (solid diet), the soft diet group (powder diet containing the same components as the solid one from the 45 the week) and the molarless group (all molars were removed at 45 weeks and the rats were then fed a powder diet). The powder diet group and molarless group were compared with the control group by the exhaustion time and serum indices after swimming-exercise at 35 weeks, 50 weeks and 75 weeks.
The results obtained are as follows.
1. The weight of the soft diet group at 75 weeks was higher than that of the control group at 75 weeks, showing a statistical significance (P<0.01).
2. In the control group, the exhaustion time in the swimming-exercise decreased with aging, showing a statistical significance (P<0.01).
3. In the molarless group at 75 weeks, the exhaustion time in the swimming-exercise decreased compared to the control group at 75 weeks, showing a statistical significance (P<0.05).
4. In the control, the soft diet and the molarless groups, the value of creatinephosho-kinase (CPK) at 50 weeks was higher than that at 75 weeks.
5. In the control and the soft diet groups, the value of free-fatty acid (FFA) at 50 weeks was higher than that at 75 weeks, but there was no statistical significance. In the molarless group, the values of FFA at 50 and 75 weeks were much lower than those of the control and the soft diet groups.
These findings suggest that the endurance performance of aged rats is considerably influ-enced by occlusal and masticatory alteration in addition to aging.
