EXPLORING THE EFFECT OF HYPERBARIC OXYGEN AGAINST EXERCISE-INDUCED FATIGUE IN RATS

Yanhua Chen, Yangqin Guo, Jianhui Liu, Bin Liu^*, Chunhua Yuan^*

Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China

Objective: The recovery of exercise-induced fatigue(EIF) has been paid much attention, and hyperbaric oxygen(HBO) can improve the uptake and utilization of oxygen, which has a good prospect in the fight against EIF, but the mechanism of HBO against EIF is not clear.

Materials and Methods: In this study, the rats were randomly divided into a control group(CG), an exercise-induced fatigue model group (EG) and a hyperbaric oxygen treatment group after EIF (HG). The rats in HG were treated with standard medical hyperbaric oxygen. After 4 weeks of experiment, the rats’ physiological and biochemical indexes were detected, and the morphological changes of liver, skeletal muscle and kidney were analyzed by HE staining and light microscope.

Results: The results indicated that compared with CG, the growth of rats in EG was slower (P<0.01), and there were significant differences in the contents of blood lactic acid and blood urea nitrogen among CG, EG and HG (P<0.05). The morphology of liver, skeletal muscle and kidney in EG showed varying degrees of damage. Compared with the EG, the morphological damage of liver, skeletal muscle and kidney in the HG was improved. There were significant differences in SOD activity and MDA content in serum, liver and skeletal muscle among CG, EG and HG.

Conclusions: It was inferred that EIF significantly affected individual development and caused damage to body tissue, while HBO had a good effect on the recovery of EIF. The mechanism of HBO against EIF might be related to the generation and scavenging of oxygen free radicals. Our results would provide a data reference for the clinical application of HBO in EIF.