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Effects of oral l-carnitine supplementation in racing Greyhounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2007

T S Epp ,
H H Erickson ,
J Woodworth  and
D C Poole
T S Epp*
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomy and Physiology and Kinesiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS66506-5802, USA
H H Erickson
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomy and Physiology and Kinesiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS66506-5802, USA
J Woodworth
Affiliation:
Lonza, Inc., Allendale, NJ 07401-1613, USA
D C Poole
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomy and Physiology and Kinesiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS66506-5802, USA
*
*Corresponding author: tepp@vet.k-state.edu
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Abstract

l-Carnitine supplementation can stimulate erythropoiesis, reduce exercise-induced plasma lactate concentrations and decrease post-exercise muscle damage. Next to horses, Greyhounds represent the premier animal racing species and perform short-duration, very high-intensity exercise that has the potential to incur substantial muscle damage. Under resting and standard racing conditions (5/16 mile), we tested the novel hypotheses that l-carnitine supplementation in Greyhounds would: (1) elevate haematocrit at rest and immediately post-exercise; (2) reduce peak post-exercise plasma lactate; and (3) reduce indices of muscle damage (plasma creatine phosphokinase, CPK and aspartate aminotransferase, AST). Six conditioned Greyhounds (30.1 ± 1.6 kg) underwent a randomized placebo-controlled crossover study to determine the effects of 6 weeks of l-carnitine supplementation (100 mg kg− 1 of body weight/day) at rest and following a maximal speed 5/16 mile race. In accordance with our hypotheses, l-carnitine elevated resting and immediately post-race haematocrit (control, 60.1 ± 1.7, l-carnitine, 63.6 ± 1.7; P < 0.05) and reduced peak post-race plasma CPK and AST concentrations (both P < 0.05). Those dogs with the highest peak post-exercise plasma CPK concentrations under placebo conditions evidenced the greatest reduction with l-carnitine supplementation (r = 0.99, P < 0.01). However, contrary to our hypotheses, l-carnitine did not change peak post-exercise plasma lactate concentrations (control, 27.0 ± 2.1, l-carnitine, 27.7 ± 1.3; P>0.05). We conclude that l-carnitine supplementation increases the potential for oxygen transport and reduces plasma indicators of muscle damage, CPK and AST in racing Greyhounds.

Keywords

haematocritoxygen transportmuscle damageaspartate aminotransferasecreatine phosphokinaselactatemaximal exercise
Type
Research Papers
Information
Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology , Volume 4 , Issue 3-4 , November 2007 , pp. 141 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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