Acute and Long-Term Treatments with an Herbal Formula V-Vital Capsule Increase Exercise Endurance Capacity in Weight-Loaded Swimming Mice

Fatigue is a self-limiting response arising from physical and/or mental weariness, with a conse-quent personal and economic morbidity on work performance and social relationships. Anti-fati-gue intervention is therefore urgently sought. “Qi-invigorating ” Chinese tonic herbs, which can improve the energy status in the body according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, may produce beneficial effects in fatigue individuals. The herbal formula V-Vital capsule (VVC), which comprises 3 “Qi-invigorating ” herbs, namely the root of Rhodiola rosea, Eleutherococcus senticosus and Panax quinquefolium, may produce anti-fatigue effect. In the present study, we in-vestigated the effect of acute/long-term VVC treatment (acute: 0.75, 0.2 and 3.75 kg/day × 1 dose; long-term: 0.075 and 0.25 g/kg/day × 14 doses) on weight-loaded swimming female ICR mice. The weight-loaded swimming time until exhaustion, indicative of exercise endurance capacity, was recorded. Plasma levels of glucose, non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), lactate and reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM) were measured in the exhausted mice. Glycogen levels in skeletal muscle and liver tissues were also measured. Mitochondrial function status [such as adenine nucleotid