Exercise and Redox Status Responses Following Alpha-Lipoic Acid Supplementation in G6PD Deficient Individuals

Abstract

G6PD deficiency renders cells more susceptible to oxidative insults, while antioxidant dietary supplementation could restore redox balance and ameliorate exercise-induced oxidative stress. To examine the effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation on redox status indices in G6PD deficient individuals, eight male adults with G6PD deficiency (D) participated in this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive ALA (600 mg/day) or placebo for 4 weeks separated by a 4-week washout period. Before and at the end of each treatment period, participants exercised following an exhaustive treadmill exercise protocol. Blood samples were obtained before (at rest), immediately after and 1h after exercise for later analysis of total antioxidant capacity (TAC), uric acid, bilirubin, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and protein carbonyls (PC). ALA resulted in significantly increased resting TAC and bilirubin concentrations. Moreover, TAC increased immediately and 1h after exercise following both treatment periods, whereas bilirubin increased immediately after and 1h after exercise following only ALA. No significant change in uric acid, TBARS or PC was observed at any time point. ALA supplementation for 4 weeks may enhance antioxidant status in G6PD individuals; however, it does not affect redox responses to acute exercise until exhaustion or exercise performance.

Safety Evaluation of α-Lipoic Acid Supplementation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Studies

“…Additional 139 papers were excluded due to being pre-print papers ( n = 2), study protocols ( n = 6), reporting data from studies lacking of an appropriate placebo-controlled design for the supplementation ( n = 64), lacking of randomisation ( n = 5), testing the acute effect of ALA supplementation ( n = 7), testing ALA supplementation combined in nutraceutical compounds ( n = 27), testing intravenous treatment with ALA ( n = 11), testing topical treatment with ALA ( n = 4), lacking sufficient information about the nature of the adverse events ( n = 9), or reporting data overlapped with other publications ( n = 4) ( Supplementary file B ). Finally, 71 studies were eligible and included in the systematic review [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ,…”

Physical Activity and Redox Balance in the Elderly: Signal Transduction Mechanisms

“…On the other hand, activation of antioxidant mechanisms in Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PDH) patients (adults, 33-43 years old), with the Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) supplementation, increases the antioxidant defence without modifying the effects of exercise. In fact, administration of ALA (600 mg/day) or placebo for 4 weeks did not affect their performance with 45 min of treadmill, at 70-75% VO 2max and then 90% until exhaustion [21]. Thus, administration of compounds like polyphenols seems to reinforce the antioxidant effect of exercise.…”

Quantitative Redox Biology of Exercise

“…For example, the question of how much hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) has to be increased in order to act as a signaling molecule (and not as oxidative stress) and trigger specific responses and adaptations has been a long-standing subject of discussion in exercise physiology [3]. In the same vein, how bottlenecks of redox biochemistry can be efficiently identified, such as cases in which nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) or reduced glutathione (GSH) become limiting, and how this information can be used to provide personalized dietary advice is still a matter of debate [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”