Keto analogues and amino acid supplementation and its effects on ammonaemia during extenuating endurance exercise in ketogenic diet-fed rats

• Published in: British journal of nutrition 2018-10, Vol.120 (7), p.732-739
• Main Authors: Ferreira, Rogério T., Gonçalves, Sandra C., Pedrosa, Maria L., Silva, Marcelo E., Bassini, Adriana, Coelho, Wagner S., de Magalhães-Neto, Aníbal M., Prado, Eduardo S., Cameron, L. C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute effects; Amino acids; Amino Acids - pharmacology; Amino Acids - therapeutic use; Ammonia; Ammonia - blood; Animals; Athletes; Blood; Carbohydrates; Diet; Diet, Ketogenic; Dietary Supplements; Endurance; Exercise; Exhaustion; Fatigue tests; High fat diet; Hyperammonemia - blood; Hyperammonemia - etiology; Hyperammonemia - prevention & control; Hyperthermia; Keto Acids - pharmacology; Keto Acids - therapeutic use; Ketogenesis; Low carbohydrate diet; Male; Metabolism; Metabolism and Metabolic Studies; Metabolites; Musculoskeletal system; Physical Conditioning, Animal - physiology; Physical Endurance - physiology; Physical training; Physiology; Rats; Rats, Inbred F344; Swimming; Urea; Uric acid
• ISSN: 0007-1145; 1475-2662
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007114518001770

Keto analogues and amino acids (KAAA) supplementation can reduce blood ammonia concentrations in athletes undergoing high-intensity exercise under both ketogenic and thermoneutral conditions. This study evaluated the acute effects of KAAA supplementation on ammonia metabolism during extenuating endurance exercise in rats fed a ketogenic diet. In all, eighty male Fischer rats at 90 d of age were divided into eight groups, and some were trained using a swimming endurance protocol. A ketogenic diet supplemented with keto analogues was administered for 10 d. Administration of the ketogenic diet ended 3 d before the exhaustion test (extenuating endurance exercise). A ketogenic diet plus KAAA supplementation and extenuating endurance exercise (trained ketogenic diet supplemented with KAAA (TKKa)) increased blood ammonia concentrations by approximately 50 % compared with the control diet (trained control diet supplemented with KAAA (TCKa)) and similar training (effect size=1·33; statistical power=0·50). The KAAA supplementation reduced blood urea concentrations by 4 and 18 % in the control and ketogenic diet groups, respectively, compared with the groups fed the same diets without supplementation. The trained groups had 60 % lower blood urate concentrations after TCKa treatment than after TKKa treatment. Our results suggest that KAAA supplementation can reduce blood ammonia concentrations after extenuating endurance exercise in rats fed a balanced diet but not in rats fed a ketogenic diet.