Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Many studies concerning influence of traditional Chinese medicine on animal movement capacity have been conducted. However, studies on the improvement of exercise capacity by traditional Chinese medicine are few, especially comparisons among traditional Chinese medicine
OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of different traditional Chinese medicine preparations on the exercise capacity in mice to screen compound preparations with precise effects.
METHOD: A total of 80 8-week-old pure male Kunming mice were randomly assigned to 8 groups (n=10): control and compound 1-7 groups. There were no significant differences in body mass of all groups. The compound 1 comprised Xuejie and Shexiang; compound 2 comprised Qingui, Baizhu and Baishao; compound 3 comprised Baizhu, Baizhi and Sanqi; compound 4 comprised Baizhi, Ruxiang, Danggui and Radix glycryrrhizae; compound 5 comprised Guiwei; compound 6 comprised Sichuan Honghua and Danshen; compound 7 comprised Danggui and Shexiang. Of the 7 prescriptions, compound 1-5 were empirical formula, compound 6 was common medicine used during training, and compound 7 was prescription of traditional Chinese medicine. The 7 compound groups were respectively treated with 1.17, 0.78, 0.78, 1.17, 7.02, 5.53, and 11.70 g/kg per day for 4 weeks, and control group was intragastrically infused with normal saline. From day 4 to 6, load-free swimming training was performed 20 minutes a day for 3 days, followed by swimming for 6 days a week after 1 day of rest. The intensity was gradually increased from 30 minutes per day by 10 minutes per day for 2 hours, followed by loading swimming with load of 2% of the body mass, increased by 1% per day until the final experiment. During the entire procedure, a great intensity swimming training was performed every week to make the mice exhausted. Mice training and serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase 4 weeks following treatment were observed.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 80 mice were included in the final analysis. The compounds showed little influence on mice body mass; the compound 2 and compound 6 groups had longest exhaustive time. All compounds inhibited serum creatine kinase activity following exercise, in particular compound 6 and 2 (P < 0.05). Compared with control group, the serum lactate dehydrogenase activity of each compound group was decreased, in particular, compound 2 and 6 groups showed significant differences (P < 0.05). Compound 2 and 6 significantly enhanced the exercise capacity of mice and delayed injury of body. The mechanism may highly relate to components in the compounds, Danggui, Sichuan Honghua and Danshen.