Animal Model of Performance Enhancement by Nutritional Supplements With Anti-Inflammatory Activity
Abstract
It is well known that intense exercise can induce muscle damage and inflammation depending on exercise mode, intensity, and duration (Schwane et al., 1983; Willoughby et al., 2003). Exercise with a large eccentric component (lengthening of a muscle that is actively developing tension) produces the greatest muscle fiber damage, inflammation, delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and various functional deficits. It is now thought that many of these responses to muscle-damaging exercise may be triggered by a large increase in inflammatory cytokines in the working muscle, plasma and perhaps even the brain (Dantzer, 2004; Schwane et al., 1983; Sheng et al., 2001; Willoughby et al., 2003). Exercise-induced increases in inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 were originally thought to be expressed only in immune cells, but now are known to be expressed to varying degrees in many other tissues. They are regulated by a variety of stimulators and suppressors within the inflammatory pathways. The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) prostaglandin cascade and NF-KappaB-mediated cytokine pathways are the most studied pathways (Chun and Surh, 2004). Muscle damage with the production of free radicals in response to unaccustomed exercise can trigger both pathways that lead to increased inflammatory cytokine production, pain, and performance deficits (Reddy and Rao, 2000; Baldwin, 2003). Recent evidence suggests that various herbal extracts including curcumin (extract of the Indian spice, turmeric) have potent anti-inflammatory activity in a variety of inflammation models. Curcumin has been shown to inhibit both COX-2 and NF-KappaB mediated inflammation pathways.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA433141
Entities
People
- A. Ghaffar
- Alyssa Brown
- C. M. Groschwitz
- C. P. Dunne
- E. A. Murphy
- E. P. Mayer
- J. D. Gangemi
- J. M. Davis
- M. D. Carmichael
- M. Quig
- M. R. Zelinski
Organizations
- University of South Carolina