These experiments examined the influence of exercise intensity and duration on antioxidant enzyme activity in locomotor muscles differing in fiber type composition. Nine groups of female Sprague-Dawley rats (age 120 days) exercised 4 days/wk on a motor-driven treadmill for 10 wk. The impact of three levels of exercise intensity (low, moderate, and high: approximately 55, approximately 65, and approximately 75% of maximal oxygen consumption, respectively) and exercise duration (30, 60, and 90 min/day) was assessed. Sedentary animals served as controls. Oxidative capacity in the soleus and white and red gastrocnemius was assessed by measurement of citrate synthase (CS) activity, and antioxidant capacity was evaluated by assay of total superoxide dismutase, catalase, and total glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities. In all muscles, CS activity increased as a function of exercise duration. Furthermore, in the soleus and white gastrocnemius, the magnitude of the training-induced increase in CS activity was directly related to exercise intensity. In contrast, the peak increase in CS activity in the red gastrocnemius was relatively independent of exercise intensity. Catalase activity was not increased (P > 0.05) in any muscle with training. Training-induced changes in superoxide dismutase and GPX activities were muscle specific; specifically, exercise training significantly (P < 0.05) increased superoxide dismutase activity in the soleus as a function of exercise duration up to 60 min/day. Conversely, training-induced significant (P < 0.05) increases in GPX activity occurred in red gastrocnemius only; the magnitude of the GPX increase was directly related to exercise duration but relatively independent of intensity. These data demonstrate that exercise training-induced changes in muscle antioxidant enzymes are muscle specific.

Prolonged mechanical ventilation results in diaphragmatic oxidative injury, elevated proteolysis, fiber atrophy, and reduced forcegenerating capacity. We tested the hypothesis that antioxidant infusion during mechanical ventilation would function as an antioxidant to maintain redox balance within diaphragm muscle fibers and therefore prevent oxidative stress and subsequent proteolysis and contractile dysfunction. Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized, tracheostomized, and mechanically ventilated with 21% O 2 for 12 hours. The antioxidant Trolox was intravenously infused in a subset of ventilated animals. Compared with acutely anesthetized, nonventilated control animals, mechanical ventilation resulted in a significant reduction (-17%) in diaphragmatic maximal tetanic force. Importantly, Trolox completely attenuated this mechanical ventilation-induced diaphragmatic contractile deficit. Total diaphragmatic proteolysis was increased 105% in mechanical ventilation animals compared with controls. In contrast, diaphragmatic proteolysis did not differ between controls and mechanical ventilation-Trolox animals. Moreover, 20S proteasome activity in the diaphragm was elevated in the mechanical ventilation animals (ϩ76%); Trolox treatment attenuated this mechanical ventilationinduced rise in protease activity. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that mechanical ventilation-induced oxidative stress is an important factor regulating mechanical ventilation-induced diaphragmatic proteolysis and contractile dysfunction. Our findings suggest that antioxidant therapy could be beneficial during prolonged mechanical ventilation.

Controversy exists as to the effect of endurance training on myocardial antioxidant enzyme activity. These experiments sought to clarify this issue by examining antioxidant enzyme activities in the rat ventricular myocardium in response to different intensities and durations of exercise training. Female Fischer-344 rats (120 days old) were assigned to either a sedentary control group or one of nine exercise training groups. Animals were exercised on a motorized treadmill for 10 wk; combinations of three durations (30, 60, and 90 min/day), and three levels of exercise intensity (low, moderate, and high) were studied. Exercise training did not alter (P > 0.05) citrate synthase, catalase, or glutathione peroxidase activities in the right or left ventricle. In contrast, high-intensity exercise (all durations) and moderate-intensity exercise (90 min/day) resulted in a significant increase (P < 0.05; +28-30%) in right ventricular superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Similarly, high-intensity exercise training (all durations) resulted in a significant elevation (P < 0.05; +14-26%) of left ventricular SOD activity. Furthermore, low- and moderate-intensity exercise training of long duration (i.e., 60-90 min/day) resulted in significant increases (P < 0.05; +10-23%) in left ventricular SOD activity. These data support the hypothesis that high-intensity exercise (> or = 30 min/day) or moderate-intensity exercise of long duration (> or = 60 min/day) is effective in upregulating SOD activity in the ventricular myocardium.

Oxidative stress promotes controlled mechanical ventilation (MV)‐induced diaphragmatic atrophy. Nonetheless, the signalling pathways responsible for oxidative stress‐induced muscle atrophy remain unknown. We tested the hypothesis that oxidative stress down‐regulates insulin‐like growth factor‐1–phosphotidylinositol 3‐kinase–protein kinase B serine threonine kinase (IGF‐1–PI3K–Akt) signalling and activates the forkhead box O (FoxO) class of transcription factors in diaphragm fibres during MV‐induced diaphragm inactivity. Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups: (1) control (Con), (2) 6 h of MV, (3) 6 h of MV with infusion of the antioxidant Trolox, (4) 18 h of MV, (5) 18 h of MV with Trolox. Following 6 h and 18 h of MV, diaphragmatic Akt activation decreased in parallel with increased nuclear localization and transcriptional activation of FoxO1 and decreased nuclear localization of FoxO3 and FoxO4, culminating in increased expression of the muscle‐specific ubiquitin ligases, muscle atrophy factor (MAFbx) and muscle ring finger‐1 (MuRF‐1). Interestingly, following 18 h of MV, antioxidant administration was associated with attenuation of MV‐induced atrophy in type I, type IIa and type IIb/IIx myofibres. Collectively, these data reveal that the antioxidant Trolox attenuates MV‐induced diaphragmatic atrophy independent of alterations in Akt regulation of FoxO transcription factors and expression of MAFbx or MuRF‐1. Further, these results also indicate that differential regulation of diaphragmatic IGF‐1–PI3K–Akt signalling exists during the early and late stages of MV.

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