Attenuation of indirect markers of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage by curcumin

Authors

Yoko Tanabe
Seiji Maeda
Nobuhiko Akazawa
Asako Zempo-Miyaki
Youngju Choi
Song-Gyu Ra
Atsushi Imaizumi
Yoshihiko Otsuka
Kazunori Nosaka, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Springer Verlag

School

Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Research

RAS ID

20641

Comments

Tanabe, Y., Maeda, S., Akazawa, N., Zempo-Miyaki, A., Choi, Y., Ra, S.-G., ... Nosaka, K. (2015). Attenuation of indirect markers of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage by curcumin in European Journal of Applied Physiology, 115(9), 1949-1957. Available here.

Abstract

Purpose: Polyphenolic curcumin is known to have potent anti-inflammatory effects; thus the present study investigated the hypothesis that curcumin ingestion would attenuate muscle damage after eccentric exercise. Methods: Fourteen untrained young men (24 ± 1 years) performed 50 maximal isokinetic (120°/s) eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors of one arm on an isokinetic dynamometer and the same exercise with the other arm 4 weeks later. They took 150 mg of curcumin (theracurmin) or placebo (starch) orally before and 12 h after each eccentric exercise bout in a randomised, crossover design. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque of the elbow flexors, range of motion of the elbow joint, upper-arm circumference, muscle soreness, serum creatine kinase (CK) activity, and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) concentration were measured before, immediately after, and 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after each eccentric exercise. Changes in these variables over time were compared between curcumin and placebo conditions by two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Results: MVC torque decreased smaller and recovered faster (e.g., 4 days post-exercise: −31 ± 13 % vs. −15 ± 15 %), and peak serum CK activity was smaller (peak: 7684 ± 8959 IU/L vs. 3398 ± 3562 IU/L) for curcumin than placebo condition (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences between conditions were evident for other variables, and no significant changes in IL-6 and TNF-α were evident after exercise. Conclusion: It is concluded that theracurmin ingestion attenuates some aspects of muscle damage such as MVC loss and CK activity increase.

DOI

10.1007/s00421-015-3170-4

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