Essential Amino Acids Supplementation and Muscle Protein Synthesis

July 19, 2017 updated by: United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

The Effect of Amino Acid Supplementation on Skeletal Muscle Protein Turnover Following Endurance Exercise

The modern warfighter faces numerous physiological challenges including sleep deprivation, sustained intense physical activity, and caloric restriction, the combined effects of which may result in the loss of lean body mass and decreased physical performance. Dietary interventions may help preserve lean body mass and facilitate recovery from periods of intense physical demand. For example, dietary strategies that increase amino acid availability have been shown to stimulate protein synthesis in skeletal muscle following resistance exercise. Because military tasks also incorporate endurance exercise components, studies regarding the effects of increasing dietary amino acids following endurance exercise are warranted. The objectives of this study are to characterize the effect of endurance exercise on protein synthesis and breakdown as well as the ability of an essential amino acid supplement to influence skeletal muscle protein metabolism and its cellular and molecular regulation following endurance exercise.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

23

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02111
        • Tufts University
      • Natick, Massachusetts, United States, 01760
        • US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 35 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women aged 18 - 35 years
  • Weight stable
  • Recreationally active with VO2max of 40 - 50 ml/kg/min
  • Refrain from taking any NSAIDS or any aspirin-containing medications
  • Supervisor approval if a federal employee

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Disease or medication that affects macronutrient metabolism and/or the ability to participate in strenuous exercise
  • Allergies to foods or medications (including, but not limited to, lidocaine or phenylalanine) to be utilized in the study
  • Abnormal PT/PTT test or problems with blood clotting
  • Present condition of alcoholism or other substance abuse that compromises exercise capacity
  • Musculoskeletal injuries that compromise the ability to exercise
  • Pregnancy

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Muscle protein turnover and intracellular signaling at rest
Muscle protein turnover and intracellular signaling are measured at rest for comparison to post-exercise muscle metabolism.
Active Comparator: Muscle metabolism after endurance exercise
Post-exercise muscle protein metabolism was measured to determine if endurance exercise affects muscle metabolism compared to rest.
Dietary supplement: Essential Amino Acids
10 Gram Essential Amino Acid solutions with different leucine contents consumed during two identical endurance exercise trials
Other: Endurance exercise
60 minute endurance exercise session
Experimental: Muscle Metabolism after endurance exercise
Muscle metabolism response to endurance exercise with essential amino acid supplementation
Dietary supplement: Essential Amino Acids
10 Gram Essential Amino Acid solutions with different leucine contents consumed during two identical endurance exercise trials
Experimental: Muscle anabolism after endurance exercise
Muscle anabolism after endurance exercise with essential amino acid supplementation.
Dietary supplement: Essential Amino Acids
10 Gram Essential Amino Acid solutions with different leucine contents consumed during two identical endurance exercise trials

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in muscle protein synthesis after exercise or exercise with amino acid supplementation.
Time Frame: An average change over a 210 minute recovery period from a 60 minute endurance exercise session
An average change over a 210 minute recovery period from a 60 minute endurance exercise session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in intracellular signaling after exercise or exercise with amino acid supplementation.
Time Frame: At 30 minutes and 210 minutes after a 60 minute endurance exercise session
At 30 minutes and 210 minutes after a 60 minute endurance exercise session

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Collaborators

Tufts University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Stefan M Pasiakos, Ph.D., US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 1, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 2, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

June 6, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2017

Last Verified

June 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H06-04
  • 7906 Tufts

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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