Effects of Perch Essence Supplementation on Improving Exercise Performance and Anti-Fatigue in Mice

Abstract

Silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) has many nutrition and health benefits, being a rich source of macro and micronutrients, phospholipids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a variety of essential minerals while having a high protein content. In addition to direct consumption, it is often made into a soup as an important nutritional supplement for strengthening the body and delaying fatigue. By extracting the essence, its quality can be controlled, and it is convenient to supplement. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of supplementation with Santé premium silver perch essence (SPSPE) on improving exercise performance and anti-fatigue. Fifty male institute of cancer research (ICR) mice were divided into five groups (n = 10/group): (1) vehicle (vehicle control or water only), (2) isocaloric (0.93 g casein/kg/mice/day), (3) SPSPE-1X (0.99 g/kg/mice/day), (4) SPSPE-2X (1.98 g/kg/mice/day), and (5) SPSPE-5X (4.95 g/kg/mice/day). A sample or an equal volume of liquid was fed orally for four consecutive weeks. Grip strength and swimming exhaustion tests were used as exercise performance assessments. After 10 and 90 min of unloaded swimming, biochemical parameters of fatigue were evaluated. We found that supplementation with SPSPE for four consecutive weeks could significantly improve mice's grip strength, exercise endurance performance, and glycogen content (p < 0.05), and significantly reduced post-exercise fatigue biochemical parameters, such as lactate, blood ammonia (NH₃), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration, and muscle damage index creatine kinase (CK) activity (p < 0.05). In summary, supplementation with SPSPE for 4 weeks could effectively improve exercise performance, reduce sports fatigue, and accelerate fatigue recovery. In addition, it did not cause any physiological or histopathological damage.

Keywords: anti-fatigue; exercise performance; fish soup; perch essence.

Figure 1

Effect of supplementation with SPSPE on (A) absolute forelimb grip strength and (B) forelimb grip strength (%) relative to body weight. Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10 mice per group). The different superscript letters (a, b, c, d) above each bar indicate significant differences between the groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 2

Effect of supplementation with SPSPE on exhaustive swimming time in mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 10 mice per group). The different superscript letters (a, b, c, d) above each bar indicate a significant difference between the groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 3

Effect of supplementation with SPSPE on (A) NH3, (B) glucose, (C) BUN, and (D) CK. Data are expressed as mean ± SD for n = 10 mice per group. The different superscript letters (a, b, c, d) above each bar indicate a significant difference at p < 0.05. NH₃: blood ammonia; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; CK: creatine kinase.

Figure 4

Effect of supplementation with SPSPE on (A) liver and (B) glucose. Data are expressed as mean ± SD for n = 10 mice per group. The different superscript letters (a, b, c) above each bar indicate a significant difference at p < 0.05.

Figure 5

Effect of SPSPE supplementation on (A) liver, (B) kidney, (C) muscle, (D) heart, (E) lung, (F) adipocyte tissue, and (G) BAT tissue in mice. H&E stain, magnification: 200×; bar, 40 μm; BAT magnification: 100×; bar, 80 μm.