Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jan 29;7(1):6.
doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-7-6.

Creatine supplementation spares muscle glycogen during high intensity intermittent exercise in rats

Hamilton Roschel  1 , Bruno Gualano, Marcelo Marquezi, André Costa, Antonio H Lancha Jr
Affiliations

Creatine supplementation spares muscle glycogen during high intensity intermittent exercise in rats

Hamilton Roschel et al. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: The effects of creatine (CR) supplementation on glycogen content are still debatable. Thus, due to the current lack of clarity, we investigated the effects of CR supplementation on muscle glycogen content after high intensity intermittent exercise in rats.

Methods: First, the animals were submitted to a high intensity intermittent maximal swimming exercise protocol to ensure that CR-supplementation was able to delay fatigue (experiment 1). Then, the CR-mediated glycogen sparing effect was examined using a high intensity intermittent sub-maximal exercise test (fixed number of bouts; six bouts of 30-second duration interspersed by two-minute rest interval) (experiment 2). For both experiments, male Wistar rats were given either CR supplementation or placebo (Pl) for 5 days.

Results: As expected, CR-supplemented animals were able to exercise for a significant higher number of bouts than Pl. Experiment 2 revealed a higher gastrocnemius glycogen content for the CR vs. the Pl group (33.59%). Additionally, CR animals presented lower blood lactate concentrations throughout the intermittent exercise bouts compared to Pl. No difference was found between groups in soleus glycogen content.

Conclusion: The major finding of this study is that CR supplementation was able to spare muscle glycogen during a high intensity intermittent exercise in rats.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of creatine supplementation on the number of intermittent high intensity swimming bouts completed until fatigue. Pl - placebo group; CR - creatine group; * indicates p < 0.05 when compared to Pl group
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of creatine supplementation on blood lactate concentrations throughout the experimental protocol (Experiment 2). Pl - placebo group; CR - creatine group; * indicates p < 0.05 between groups at the same bout
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of creatine supplementation on soleus glycogen content. Pl - placebo group; CR - creatine group; * indicates p < 0.05 when compared to baseline
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of creatine supplementation on gastrocnemius glycogen content. Pl - placebo group; CR - creatine group; * indicates p < 0.05 when compared to baseline. # indicates p < 0.05 when compared to Pl group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gualano B, Novaes RB, Artioli GG, Freire TO, Coelho DF, Scagliusi FB, Rogeri PS, Roschel H, Ugrinowitsch C, Lancha AH Jr. Effects of creatine supplementation on glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in sedentary healthy males undergoing aerobic training. Amino Acids. 2008;34:245–250. doi: 10.1007/s00726-007-0508-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Greenhaff PL. The creatine-phosphocreatine system: there's more than one song in its repertoire. J Physiol. 2001;537:657. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2001.013478. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Harris RC, Soderlund K, Hultman E. Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation. Clin Sci (Lond) 1992;83:367–374. - PubMed
    1. Terjung RL, Clarkson P, Eichner ER, Greenhaff PL, Hespel PJ, Israel RG, Kraemer WJ, Meyer RA, Spriet LL, Tarnopolsky MA, Wagenmakers AJ, Williams MH. American College of Sports Medicine roundtable. The physiological and health effects of oral creatine supplementation. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32:706–717. doi: 10.1097/00005768-200003000-00024. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Robinson TM, Sewell DA, Hultman E, Greenhaff PL. Role of submaximal exercise in promoting creatine and glycogen accumulation in human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol. 1999;87:598–604. - PubMed