Effect of glycogen availability on human skeletal muscle protein turnover
during exercise and recovery
Krista R. Howarth, Stuart M. Phillips, Maureen J. MacDonald, Douglas Richards, Natalie A. Moreau,
and Martin J. Gibala
We examined the effect of
carbohydrate (CHO) availability on whole body and skeletal muscle
protein utilization at rest, during exercise, and during recovery in
humans. Six men cycled at 75% peak O2 uptake (V˙ O2peak) to
exhaustion to reduce body CHO stores and then consumed either a
high-CHO (H-CHO; 71 3% CHO) or low-CHO (L-CHO; 11 1%
CHO) diet for 2 days before the trial in random order. After each
dietary intervention, subjects received a primed constant infusion of
[1-13C]leucine and L-[ring-2H5]phenylalanine for measurements of
the whole body net protein balance and skeletal muscle protein
turnover. Muscle, breath, and arterial and venous blood samples were
obtained at rest, during 2 h of two-legged kicking exercise at 45%
of kicking V ˙ O2peak, and during 1 h of recovery. Biopsy samples
confirmed that the muscle glycogen concentration was lower in the
L-CHO group versus the H-CHO group at rest, after exercise, and
after recovery. The net leg protein balance was decreased in the
L-CHO group compared with at rest and compared with the H-CHO
condition, which was primarily due to an increase in protein degradation
(area under the curve of the phenylalanine rate of appearance:
1,331 162 mol in the L-CHO group vs. 786 51 mol in the
H-CHO group, P 0.05) but also due to a decrease in protein
synthesis late in exercise. There were no changes during exercise in
the rate of appearance compared with rest in the H-CHO group.
Whole body leucine oxidation increased above rest in the L-CHO
group only and was higher than in the H-CHO group. The whole body
net protein balance was reduced in the L-CHO group, largely due to
a decrease in whole body protein synthesis.
These data extend previous
findings by others and demonstrate, using contemporary stable
isotope methodology, that CHO availability influences the rates of
skeletal muscle and whole body protein synthesis, degradation, and
net balance during prolonged exercise in humans.