Mountain birch leaves contain large amounts of structurally variable polymeric proanthocyanidins. Their isolation procedure was enhanced by the addition of liquid-liquid extractions prior to column chromatography over Sephadex LH-20. Isolated polymeric proanthocyanidins were depolymerised by acid-catalysis in the presence of benzyl mercaptan or phloroglucinol in order to study their composition. The resulting degradation products, flavan-3-ols and flavan-3-ol adducts, were analysed with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using UV photodiode array detection for quantification and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry for identification. The results showed that polymeric proanthocyanidins contained (epi)gallocatechins and (epi)catechins as the extension units and, mainly, (+)-catechin as the terminal unit. The mean degree of polymerisation was found to be 26 based on thiolysis and 31 based on phloroglucinol degradation.

We examined the acute effects of a 1-h strength training session (STS) on plasma amino acid concentration following orally ingestion of leucine, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) or glutamine in nine physically active men who participated in double-blinded and randomised experiments. The subjects took placebo, leucine, BCAAs, or glutamine capsules (50 mg/kg) in either rest (REST) or STS condition. Blood samples were taken before and at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after the beginning of the treatment and they were assayed for plasma amino acids with HPLC. Following both leucine and BCAA ingestion the peak concentration of leucine was similar at rest (524 +/- 46 and 530 +/- 29 nmol/ml, respectively) and similar after STS (398 +/- 43 and 387 +/- 46 nmol/ml, respectively) but the rest and STS concentrations differed from each other (P < 0.01-0.001). The modelled polynomial data for the leucine treatment showed that the peak concentration of leucine occurred at 67 min at rest and at 90 min in STS (difference between REST and STS: P = 0.012). For the BCAA treatment the polynomial data showed that the peak concentration of leucine occurred at 72 min at rest and at 78 min in STS (P = 0.067). The peak concentration of glutamine was similar in both rest and STS condition and occurred at 60 min at rest and at 57 min in STS. In conclusion, 1-h of STS slows the increase in the peak concentration of plasma leucine similarly after oral ingestion of leucine or BCAAs but after oral ingestion of glutamine it has no slowing effect on glutamine concentration.

This study examined the acute effects of a one-hour hypertrophic strength training session (STS) on plasma amino acid concentration following oral ingestion of arginine or taurine in nine physically active men participating in a double-blind and randomised experiment. The subjects took placebo, arginine or taurine capsules (50 mg/kg) in either rest (REST) or STS condition. Blood samples were taken before and at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after the beginning of the treatment and assayed for plasma amino acids with HPLC. There was a significant interaction effect with STS and sample time for both arginine and taurine in the raw data (p < 0.05). The modelled polynomial data for the arginine treatment showed that the peak concentration of arginine occurred at 69 min at rest and at 104 min in STS, and for the taurine treatment, the peak concentration of taurine occurred at 89 min at rest and at 112 min in STS. In conclusion, one hour of hypertrophic STS slows the increase in the peak concentration of plasma arginine and taurine after oral ingestion of the respective amino acids.