Abstract
Rats, fed a vitamin-E-deficient diet for 6 weeks, performed treadmill exercise for 2 h. Muscle damage was assessed by measuring the creatine kinase (CK) activity in plasma before and after exercise, and by studying semithin longitudinal sections of the soleus muscle 48 h after running. Vitamin-E-deficient male and female rats showed an increased post-exercise CK activity when compared to matched controls, but male rats showed a larger CK response than females. This rise in plasma CK activity was caused mainly by an increased activity of the muscle-specific CK-isoenzyme, CK-MM (males + 1238%; females + 540%, P<0.05). In a parallel histological study we observed in vitamin-E-deficient male rats a dramatic and significant disturbance of the normal cyto-architecture of the muscle fibres after exercise (focal necrosis, phagocytosis and cellular infiltrates), whereas in females only minor, non-significant, changes were seen. We conclude that vitamin E deficiency enhances the susceptibility to exercise-induced muscle damage in male rats more than in female rats. This difference between the sexes is attributed to the protective effect of oestradiol that remains operative in female rats when the vitamin E status is disturbed: male rats lack such hormonal protection.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alession HM, Goldfarb AH (1982) Lipid peroxidation and scavenger enzymes during exercise: adaptive response to training. J Appl Physiol 64:1333–1336
Allen WM, Bradley R, Berrett S, Parr WH, Swannack K, Barton CRO, MacPhee A (1975) Degenerative myopathy with myoglobin uria in yearling cattle. Br Vet J 131:292–308
Amelink GJ, Bär PR (1986) Exercise-induced muscle damage in the rat. Effects of hormonal manipulation. J Neurol Sci 76:61–68
Amelink GJ, Kamp HH, Bär PR (1988) Creatine kinase isoenzyme profiles after exercise in the rat: sex linked differences in leakage of CK-MM. Pflügers Arch 412:417–421
Amelink GJ, Koot R, Erich WBM, Van Gijn J, Bär PR (1990) Sex-linked variation in creatine kinase release, and its dependence on oestradiol, can be demonstrated in an in vitro rat muscle preparation. Acta Physiol Scand 138:15–124
Amelink GJ, Van der Kallen CJH, Wokke JHJ, Bär PR (1990) Dantrolene sodium diminishes exercise-induced muscle damage in the rat. Eur J Pharmacol 179:187–192
Armstrong RB, Ogilvie RW, Schwane JA (1983) Eccentric exercise-induced injury to rat skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Excercise Physiol 54:80–93
Bär PR, Amelink GJ, Oldenburg B, Blankenstein MM (1988) Prevention of exercise-induced muscle membrane damage by estradiol. Life Sci 42:2677–2681
Brady PS, Brady LJ, Ullrey DE (1979) Selenium, vitamin E and the response to swimming stress in the rat. J Nutr 109:1103–1109
Diplock AT (1982) The modulating influence of vitamin E in biological membrane unsaturated phospholipid metabolism. Acta Vitaminol Enzymol 4:303–309
Jackson MJ, Jones DA, Edward RHT (1983) Lipid peroxidation of skeletal muscle: an in vitro study. Biosci Rep 3:609–619
Jackson MJ, Jones DA, Edwards RHT (1983) Vitamin E and skeletal muscle. In: Porter R, Whelan J (eds) Biology of vitamin E. Ciba foundation symposium 101. Pitmann, London, pp 224–239
Jackson MJ, Edwards RHT, Symons MCR (1985) Electron spin resonance studies of intact mammalian skeletal muscle. Biochim Biophys Acta 847:185–190
Jenkins RR (1988) Free radical chemistry relationship to exercise. Sports Med 5:156–170
Kanter MM, Lesmes GR, Kaminsky LA, La Ham-Saeger J, Nequin ND (1988) Serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase changes following an eighty kilometer race. Eur J Apl Physiol 57:60–63
Maughan RJ, Donnelly AE, Gleeson M, Whiting PH, Walker KA, Clough PJ (1989) Delayed-onset muscle damage and lipid peroxidation in man after a downhill run. Muscle Nerve 12:332–336
Ogilvie RW, Armstrong RB, Baird KE, Bottoms CL (1988) Lesions in the rat soleus muscle folowing eccentrically biased exercise. Am J Anat 182:335–346
Packer L (1984) Vitamin E, physical exercise and tissue damage in animals. Med Biol 62:105–109
Phoenix J, Edward RHT, Jackson MJ (1989) Inhibition of Ca2+-induced cytosolic enzyme efflux from skeletal muscle by vitamin E and related compounds. Biochem J 257:207–213
Pincemail J, Deby C, Camus G, Pirnay F, Bouchez R, Massaux L, Goutier R (1988) Tocopherol mobilization during intensive exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 57:189–191
Salminen A, Kainulainen H, Arstila AU, Vihko V (1984b) Vitamin E deficiency and the susceptibility to lipid peroxidation of mouse cardiac and skeletal muscles. Acta Physiol Scand 122:565–570
Shumate JB, Brooke MH, Carroll JE, Davis JE (1979) Increased serum creatine kinase after exercise: a sex linked phenomenon. Neurology 29:902–904
Tappel AL (1962) Vitamin E as the biological lipid antioxidant protection from in vivo lipid peroxidation. Ann NY Acad Sci 355:18–31
Victor M (1986) Toxic and nutritional myopathy. In: Engel AG, Banker GE (eds) Myology. McGraw-Hill, Minneapolis, pp 1837–1842
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amelink, G.J., van der Wal, W.A.A., Wokke, J.H.J. et al. Exercise-induced muscle damage in the rat: the effect of vitamin E deficiency. Pflügers Arch. 419, 304–309 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371111
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371111