this may help:
Am J Physiol. 1997 Feb;272(2 Pt 1):E233-8. Links
Nutritional status affects branched-chain oxoacid dehydrogenase activity during exercise in humans.Jackman ML, Gibala MJ, Hultman E, Graham TE.
Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
We examined the effect of glycogen availability and branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation on branched-chain oxoacid dehydrogenase (BCOAD) activity during exercise. Six subjects cycled at approximately 75% of their maximal oxygen uptake to exhaustion on three occasions under different preexercise conditions: 1) low muscle glycogen (LOW), 2) low muscle glycogen plus BCAA supplementation (LOW+BCAA), and 3) high muscle glycogen (CON). The LOW trial was performed first, followed by the other two conditions in random order, and biopsies for all trials were obtained at rest, after 15 min of exercise (15 min), and at the point of exhaustion during the LOW trial (49 min). BCOAD activity was not different among the three conditions at rest; however, at 15 min BCOAD activity was higher (P < or = 0.05) for the LOW (31 +/- 5%) and LOW+BCAA (43 +/- 11%) conditions compared with CON (12 +/- 1%). BCOAD activity at 49 min was not different from respective values at 15 min for any condition. These data indicate that BCOAD is rapidly activated during submaximal exercise under conditions associated with low carbohydrate availability. However, there was no relationship between BCOAD activity and glycogen concentration or net glycogenolysis, which suggests that factors other than glycogen availability are important for BCOAD regulation during exercise in humans.
Amino Acids. 2001;20(1):1-11. Links
Plasma lactate, GH and GH-binding protein levels in exercise following BCAA supplementation in athletes.De Palo EF, Gatti R, Cappellin E, Schiraldi C, De Palo CB, Spinella P.
Sezione di Biochimica Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Diagnostiche, Università degli Studi, Padova, Italy.
[email protected]
Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) stimulate protein synthesis, and growth hormone (GH) is a mediator in this process. A pre-exercise BCAA ingestion increases muscle BCAA uptake and use. Therefore after one month of chronic BCAA treatment (0.2 gkg(-1) of body weight), the effects of a pre-exercise oral supplementation of BCAA (9.64 g) on the plasma lactate (La) were examined in triathletes, before and after 60 min of physical exercise (75% of VO2 max). The plasma levels of GH (pGH) and of growth hormone binding protein (pGHBP) were also studied. The end-exercise La of each athlete was higher than basal. Furthermore, after the chronic BCAA treatment, these end-exercise levels were lower than before this treatment (8.6+/-0.8 mmol L(-1) after vs 12.8+/-1.0 mmol L(-1) before treatment; p < 0.05 [mean +/- std. err.]). The end-exercise pGH of each athlete was higher than basal (p < 0.05). Furthermore, after the chronic treatment, this end-exercise pGH was higher (but not significantly, p = 0.08) than before this treatment (12.2+/-2.0 ng mL(-1) before vs 33.8+/-13.6 ngmL(-1) after treatment). The end-exercise pGHBP was higher than basal (p < 0.05); and after the BCAA chronic treatment, this end-exercise pGHBP was 738+/-85 pmol L(-1) before vs 1691+/-555 pmol L(-1) after. pGH/pGHBP ratio was unchanged in each athlete and between the groups, but a tendency to increase was observed at end-exercise. The lower La at the end of an intense muscular exercise may reflect an improvement of BCAA use, due to the BCAA chronic treatment. The chronic BCAA effects on pGH and pGHBP might suggest an improvement of muscle activity through protein synthesis.
J Physiol. 1996 Aug 1;494 ( Pt 3):899-905. Links
Mechanisms of activation of muscle branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase during exercise in man.van Hall G, MacLean DA, Saltin B, Wagenmakers AJ.
Department of Human Biology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
[email protected]
1. Exercise leads to activation (dephosphorylation) of the branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKADH). Here we investigate the effect of low pre-exercise muscle glycogen content and of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) ingestion on the activity of BCKADH at rest and after 90 min of one-leg knee-extensor exercise at 65% maximal one-leg power output in five subjects. 2. Pre-exercise BCAA ingestion (308 mg BCAAs (kg body wt)-1) caused an increased muscle BCAA uptake, a higher intramuscular BCAA concentration and activation of BCKADH both at rest (9 +/- 1 versus 25 +/- 5% for the control and BCAA test, respectively) and after exercise (27 +/- 4 versus 54 +/- 7%). 3. At rest the percentage active BCKADH was not different, 6 +/- 2% versus 5 +/- 1%, in the normal and low glycogen content leg (392 +/- 21 and 147 +/- 34 mumol glycosyl units (g dry muscle)-1, respectively). The post-exercise BCKADH activity was higher in the low (46 +/- 2%) than in the normal glycogen content leg (26 +/- 2%). 4. It is concluded that: (1) the mechanism of activation by BCAA ingestion probably involves an increase of the muscle BCAA concentration; (2) BCKADH activation caused by exercise and BCAA ingestion are additive; (3) low pre-exercise muscle glycogen content augments the exercise-induced BCKADH activation without an increase in muscle BCAA concentration; and (4) the mechanism of BCKADH activation via BCAA ingestion and low muscle glycogen content are different.
