Effect Of Climbing Exercise On Skeletal Muscle Weight, Strength And Endurance In Rats

• Published in: The FASEB journal 2007-04, Vol.21 (5), p.A579-A579
• Main Authors: Kondo, Emi, Tai, Shinji, Hasegawa, Hiroyuki, Okamura, Koji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0892-6638; 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.A579-a

To determine whether climbing exercise with a newly developed apparatus for small animals increases the weight, strength and endurance of the skeletal muscle, 50 male rats (5‐wk‐old) were assigned to three groups: control (C, n = 20), exercised for 3 days (3E, n = 15) or 6 days (6E, n = 15) a week. The apparatus was made of a wire mesh cage of 50 cm tall until week 8 and 1 m tall thereafter which was placed on a 53°C electric hot plate. Exercise consisted of 5 min × 6 sets/day. Tissue weight including several skeletal muscles and skeletal muscle functions were measured at week 0, 10, 20 and 30. The body weight (BW) did not differ among the groups throughout the study. At week 20, the total weight of excised skeletal muscles showed no differences among the groups though, when expressed as g/100 g BW it was significantly greater in 3E than in C (C 3.18 g (SD 0.31), 3E 3.61 (0.21), 6E 3.34 (0.21), P < 0.05), and the adipose tissue weight (perirenal and epididymal) was significantly lower in both 3E and 6E than in C (P < 0.05). However, significant differences were not observed in both skeletal muscle and adipose tissue weight at week 10 and 30. Muscle strength was C < 3E = 6E (P < 0.05) at week 10 and 20, and C < 6E (P < 0.05) at week 30. Muscle endurance was C < 6E (P < 0.05) at week 10, C < 3E < 6E (P < 0.05) at week 20 and C < 3E = 6E (P < 0.05) at week 30. These results suggest that climbing exercise with this apparatus increases muscle strength and endurance within 10 weeks in both 3E and 6E, while the effect on the skeletal muscle weight is obscure.