Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2013 Jul;98(1):233-45.
doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.049163. Epub 2013 May 29.

Thiol-based antioxidant supplementation alters human skeletal muscle signaling and attenuates its inflammatory response and recovery after intense eccentric exercise

Yannis Michailidis  1 , Leonidas G Karagounis, Gerasimos Terzis, Athanasios Z Jamurtas, Kontantinos Spengos, Dimitrios Tsoukas, Athanasios Chatzinikolaou, Dimitrios Mandalidis, Renae J Stefanetti, Ioannis Papassotiriou, Spyros Athanasopoulos, John A Hawley, Aaron P Russell, Ioannis G Fatouros
Affiliations
Free article
Randomized Controlled Trial

Thiol-based antioxidant supplementation alters human skeletal muscle signaling and attenuates its inflammatory response and recovery after intense eccentric exercise

Yannis Michailidis et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The major thiol-disulfide couple of reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione is a key regulator of major transcriptional pathways regulating aseptic inflammation and recovery of skeletal muscle after aseptic injury. Antioxidant supplementation may hamper exercise-induced cellular adaptations.

Objective: The objective was to examine how thiol-based antioxidant supplementation affects skeletal muscle's performance and redox-sensitive signaling during the inflammatory and repair phases associated with exercise-induced microtrauma.

Design: In a double-blind, crossover design, 10 men received placebo or N-acetylcysteine (NAC; 20 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1)) after muscle-damaging exercise (300 eccentric contractions). In each trial, muscle performance was measured at baseline, after exercise, 2 h after exercise, and daily for 8 consecutive days. Muscle biopsy samples from vastus lateralis and blood samples were collected before exercise and 2 h, 2 d, and 8 d after exercise.

Results: NAC attenuated the elevation of inflammatory markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase activity, C-reactive protein, proinflammatory cytokines), nuclear factor κB phosphorylation, and the decrease in strength during the first 2 d of recovery. NAC also blunted the increase in phosphorylation of protein kinase B, mammalian target of rapamycin, p70 ribosomal S6 kinase, ribosomal protein S6, and mitogen activated protein kinase p38 at 2 and 8 d after exercise. NAC also abolished the increase in myogenic determination factor and reduced tumor necrosis factor-α 8 d after exercise. Performance was completely recovered only in the placebo group.

Conclusion: Although thiol-based antioxidant supplementation enhances GSH availability in skeletal muscle, it disrupts the skeletal muscle inflammatory response and repair capability, potentially because of a blunted activation of redox-sensitive signaling pathways. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01778309.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data

-