Impact of supplementation with branched chain amino acids on myocardium and coronary in regularly and intensively exercising rats

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) consumption on myocardium and coronary arteries, in rats subjected to regular and intense exercise. Eight-week old, 30 male rats were randomly divided into experimental- and controlgroups. For a total of 8 weeks, every other day, both groups were subjected to a ladder-climbing exercise on a 1.5 m long ladder, with 2.5 cm steps interval, at 70 degrees angle. The experimental group, besides the standard diet, was additionally fed BCAA-supplement at a dose of 1.5 mg/g/day. This study showed that, the experimental group had more frequent atherosclerotic lesions compared to the control group (61.5% vs. 21.4%; p=0.034). Although creatine kinase was similar between the groups, creatine kinase - myocardial band isoform (CK-MB) was significantly higher in the experimental group compared both to control and baseline levels. This is the first study that examines the effects of consuming BCAA supplements on myocardium and coronary arteries in rats subjected to prolonged exercise. We demonstrated that continuous and long-term consumption of BCAA supplement in endurance exercises was associated with coronary atherosclerotic process and myocardial injury.

Keywords

• branched chain amino acids
• atherosclerosis
• endurance exercises
• myocardial injury