Effect of Glutamate Administration on the Performance of Long-distance Runners and Cyclists

Abstract

The accumulation of lactate in the muscle tissues after strenuous exercise induces a phenomenon of fatigue with a lowering of performance capability. The endeavor to overcome the fatigue via supplying high energy sources faces the contradictory reality that such a strategy might cause a higher accumulation of lactate in the tissues. As for the fate of lactate in the anerobic state of exercising muscle tissues, the transamination of pyruvate to alanine would eventually lower the content of lactate in addition to the well-known Cori cycle (Park et al., 1989). Moreover, since the enzymes of GPT and LDH are of near-equilibrium properties, the reactions are mostly dependent on the concentration of substrates. Therefore, in the present experiment, we tried to determine the effect of amino acid administration, especially of glutamate, on the exercise performance in long-distance runners and high school cyclists to see whether the lactate level could be lowered. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) the lactate clearance in the blood was accelerated in the glutamate-administered group; (2) the blood level of lactate during strenuous exercise was lowered in the glutamate-treated group; (3) the performance of exercise was improved partially in the glutamate-treated group. From these results, it can be suggested that glutamate administration before exercise might reduce lactate accumulation, leading to improvement of exercise performance.