The purpose of this study was to examine the regulation (hormonal, substrate, and allosteric) of muscle glycogen phosphorylase (Phos) activity and glycogenolysis after short-term endurance training. Eight untrained males completed 6 days of cycle exercise (2 h/day) at 65% of maximal O2 uptake (Vo2max). Before and after training subjects cycled for 15 min at 80% of Vo2max, and muscle biopsies and blood samples were obtained at 0 and 30 s, 7.5 and 15 min, and 0, 5, 10, and 15 min of exercise. Vo2max was unchanged with training but citrate synthase (CS) activity increased by 20%. Muscle glycogenolysis was reduced by 42% during the 15-min exercise challenge following training (198.8 +/- 36.9 vs. 115.4 +/- 25.1 mmol/kg dry muscle), and plasma epinephrine was blunted at 15 min of exercise. The Phos a mole fraction was unaffected by training. Muscle phosphocreatine utilization and free Pi and AMP accumulations were reduced with training at 7.5 and 15 min of exercise. It is concluded that posttransformational control of Phos, exerted by reductions in substrate (free Pi) and allosteric modulator (free AMP) contents, is responsible for a blunted muscle glycogenolysis after 6 days of endurance training. The increase in CS activity suggests that the reduction of muscle glycogenolysis was due in part to an enhanced mitochondrial potential.

Plasma and muscle amino acid (AA) and ammonia (NH3) responses were measured during prolonged submaximal exercise in humans. Increased NH3 production during submaximal exercise has been attributed to the activity of the purine nucleotide cycle, without consideration of any possible contribution from AA. Six men cycled at 75% of maximal O2 uptake until exhaustion on two occasions after 2.5 days of ingestion of a high-carbohydrate or mixed diet. Plasma samples (antecubital vein) and muscle biopsies (vastus lateralis) were obtained at rest and during exercise and analyzed for plasma and muscle NH3 and AA as well as muscle metabolites. There were no significant diet effects in these parameters, so the majority of results focus on the effects of exercise. Plasma and muscle NH3 increased significantly from the onset and continued to increase throughout exercise. The total and total essential [AA] of muscle were significantly increased at exhaustion, whereas both the plasma and muscle branched-chain AA contents were unchanged. This suggests that protein catabolism was occurring during exercise and the branched-chain AA were used for energy and NH3 production.

This study examined the effects of altered dietary intakes on amino acid and ammonia (NH3) responses prior to and during prolonged exercise in humans. Six male recreational cyclists rode to exhaustion at 75% of VO2max following 3 days on a low carbohydrate (LC), mixed (M), or high carbohydrate (HC) diet in a latin square design. There were differences (p less than 0.05) in exercise times among all treatments (58.8 +/- 3.7, 112.1 +/- 7.3, and 152.9 +/- 10.3 min for the LC, M, and HC treatments, respectively). The rate of increase in plasma NH3 during exercise was greater (p less than 0.05) during the LC trial. The LC trial was also characterized by higher (p less than 0.05) resting plasma concentrations of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and a greater decrease in these amino acids during exercise (p less than 0.05), as compared with the other two treatments. Both plasma BCAA and NH3 were susceptible to dietary manipulations. These findings suggest that limited carbohydrate availability in association with increased BCAA availability results in enhanced BCAA metabolism during exercise. This is reflected in a greater rate of increase in plasma NH3 and is consistent with the hypothesis that a significant fraction of the NH3 released during a prolonged, submaximal exercise bout is from amino acid catabolism.

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