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. 2023 Dec 14;48(1):59-69.
doi: 10.55730/1300-0152.2682. eCollection 2024.

Beneficial effects of a novel polyherbal formulation on the skeletal muscle antioxidant status, inflammation, and muscle-signaling proteins in exercised rats

Mehmet Tuzcu  1 , Oğuzhan Özdemir  2 , Cemal Orhan  3 , Nurhan Şahin  3 , Abhijeet Morde  4 , Muralidhara Padigaru  4 , Prakash Bhanuse  4 , Kazım Şahin  3
Affiliations

Beneficial effects of a novel polyherbal formulation on the skeletal muscle antioxidant status, inflammation, and muscle-signaling proteins in exercised rats

Mehmet Tuzcu et al. Turk J Biol. .

Abstract

Background/aim: Exhausting exercise can damage muscle tissue due to free radical interactions. It is hypothesized that the increase in free radicals following muscle injury, either due to oxidative damage to biomolecules or the activation of inflammatory cytokines, may lead to secondary muscle damage. This study investigated the effects of a novel joint health formula (JHF) containing bisdemethoxycurcumin-enriched curcumin, 3-O-Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid-enriched Boswellia (AKBA), and Ashwagandha on exhaustion time, grip strength, antioxidant status, and muscle-signaling proteins in exhaustively exercised rats.

Materials and methods: Twenty-eight rats were divided into four groups: Control (C), exercise (E), E + JHF 100 (100 mg/kg), and E + JHF 200 (200 mg/kg).

Results: An increase in time to exhaustion and grip strength was recorded with JHF supplementation in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.0001). In addition, serum and muscle lactate dehydrogenase, malondialdehyde, myoglobin, creatine kinase, and lactic acid concentrations were decreased in the groups supplemented with JHF, particularly at the high dose of JHF (200 mg/kg) (p < 0.0001 for all). JHF supplementation also increased antioxidant enzyme activities and suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines compared to the exercise group (p < 0.0001). Moreover, JHF reduced the levels of PGC-1α, p-70S6K1, MAFbx, MuRF1, and p-mTOR proteins in muscle tissue compared to the exercise group (p < 0.05), being more effective at high doses.

Conclusion: These findings show that JHF might reduce muscle damage by modulating antiinflammatory, antioxidant, and muscle mass regulatory pathways in exhausted training rats. At the same time, JHF improved exercise performance and grip strength.

Keywords: Joint health formula; antioxidant; exercise; exhaustion; inflammation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interests: Abhijeet Morde, Muralidhara Padigaru, and Prakash Bhanuse are employees of OmniActive Health Technologies (Mumba, India). The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of joint health formula (JHF) supplementation on body weight (A), exhaustion time (B), grip strength (C), and grip strength:body weight ratio (GS:BW; D) in exercised rats. The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001; ++p < 0.01, ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of joint health formula (JHF) supplementation on serum CK (A), LDH (B), lactic acid (C), and myoglobulin (D) levels in exercised rats. The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001; ####p < 0.0001; ++p < 0.01, ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of joint health formula (JHF) supplementation on serum MDA (A), SOD (B), CAT (C), and GSHPx (D) levels in exercised rats. The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001; +p < 0.05, ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of Joint Health Formula (JHF) supplementation on muscle MDA (A), SOD (B), CAT (C), and GSHPx (D) levels in exercised rats. The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; #p < 0.05, ####p < 0.0001; ++p < 0.01, ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of joint health formula (JHF) supplementation on muscle protein expression of IL-1β (A), IL-6 (B), TNF-α (C), COX2 (D) and PGC-1α (E) levels in exercised rats. The densitometric analysis of the relative intensity according to the control group of the Western blot bands was performed with β-actin normalization to ensure equal protein loading. Blots were repeated at least three times (n = 3) and a representative blot is shown (F). The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; ****p < 0.0001; ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001; ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effects of Joint Health Formula (JHF) supplementation on muscle protein expression of p-4E-BP1 (A), p-mTOR (B), p70S6K1 (C), MAFbx (D) and MuRF-1 (E) levels in exercised rats. The densitometric analysis of the relative intensity according to the control group of the Western blot bands was performed with β-actin normalization to ensure equal protein loading. Blots were repeated at least three times (n = 3) and a representative blot is shown (F). The depicted bars represent the mean and standard deviation. Different symbols (*, #, and + indicate difference compared to the Control, Exercise, and E + JHF 100 groups, respectively) above the bars indicate statistical differences among the groups (ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ####p < 0.0001; ++++p < 0.0001, respectively).
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Grants and funding

This research was supported by OmniActive Health Technologies (Mumbai, India) and the Turkish Academy of Science (Ankara, Türkiye)

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