Effects of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation on endurance exercise performance of pregnant rats

Aims. - the present study evaluated the effects of BCAA supplementation on exercise performance of pregnant rats.Methods. - in order to assess these effects, Wistar rats were divided into four groups: sedentary not-supplemented (SNS, n = 8); sedentary supplemented (SS, n = 8); trained not-supplemented (TNS, n = 8) and trained supplemented (TS, n = 8). All groups were submitted to the endurance test until exhaustion (ET) and post-effort lactate (PEL) determination before pregnancy (ET-B and PEL-B) and at the 19th day of pregnancy (ET-19 and PEL-19).Results. - the endurance training significantly increased the ET time to exhaustion (p<0.05). Regardless of BCAA supplementation, both endurance trained groups (TS and TNS) showed a longer time to exhaustion, assessed by ET, compared with the sedentary groups (SS and SNS) (p < 0.05). in the TNS, ET-19 time to exhaustion decreased when compared with the period before pregnancy. On the other hand, ET-19 time to exhaustion was not affected in the TS at the end of the pregnancy period. in addition, TS showed a marked PEL-19 reduction when compared with PEL-B. the data presented herein suggest that BCAA supplementation plays an ergogenic role in the maintenance of exercise performance during pregnancy in rats. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Ministry of Education, BrazilBioformula, São Paulo-BrazilUniv São Paulo, Sch Arts Sci & Humanities, EACH, BR-1000 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Rehabil Dept, EPM, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Rehabil Dept, EPM, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc