Motor unit fatigability following chronic carnosine supplementation in aged rats
Controlled trialOther animals
- Design
- Controlled trial
- Subjects
- 40 male Wistar rats aged 15 months at the start (control n=14; carnosine 34 weeks n=14; carnosine 10 weeks n=12)
- Dose used in the study
- 0.1% carnosine in drinking water, about 46 mg/kg body weight per day
- Duration
- 34 weeks or the last 10 weeks of a 34-week period
- What was measured
- Force and fatigability of fast fatigable, fast fatigue-resistant and slow motor units in medial gastrocnemius; muscle antioxidant potential (FRAP, total phenols, TBARS), advanced glycation end-products, enzyme activities and histidyl dipeptide content.
What the authors reported
The authors report that fast fatigable units held force higher during the 10 to 70 second phase of the first fatigue test in both supplemented groups (p = 0.010), and that fast units declined more slowly in the second test. Slow units showed no change in fatigue resistance, though twitch force was higher after 34 weeks of carnosine. There was no change in antioxidant measures or AGEs; hexokinase activity was lower in both supplemented groups. Muscle carnosine in the red portion of the muscle fell by about 30% in the 34-week group. Mortality was about 35% in all groups.
Limits of this study
Aged-rat model with about 35% mortality in every group; muscle carnosine fell rather than rose with supplementation; the authors note the effects differed by motor unit type.
Source
Entry checked against full text (journal site, MDPI) on 2026-10-11. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.