A sportomics strategy to analyze the ability of arginine to modulate both ammonia and lymphocyte levels in blood after high-intensity exercise

Abstract

BackgroundExercise is an excellent tool to study the interactions between metabolic stress and the immune system. Specifically, high-intensity exercises both produce transient hyperammonemia and influence the distribution of white blood cells. Carbohydrates and glutamine and arginine supplementation were previously shown to effectively modulate ammonia levels during exercise. In this study, we used a short-duration, high-intensity exercise together with a low carbohydrate diet to induce a hyperammonemia state and better understand how arginine influences both ammonemia and the distribution of leukocytes in the blood.MethodsBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners (men, n = 39) volunteered for this study. The subjects followed a low-carbohydrate diet for four days before the trials and received either arginine supplementation (100 mg·kg-1 of body mass·day-1) or a placebo. The intergroup statistical significance was calculated by a one-way analysis of variance, followed by Student’s t-test. The data correlations were calculated using Pearson’s test.ResultsIn the control group, ammonemia increased during matches at almost twice the rate of the arginine group (25 mmol·L-1·min-1 and 13 μmol·L-1·min-1, respectively). Exercise induced an increase in leukocytes of approximately 75%. An even greater difference was observed in the lymphocyte count, which increased 2.2-fold in the control group; this increase was partially prevented by arginine supplementation. The shape of the ammonemia curve suggests that arginine helps prevent increases in ammonia levels.ConclusionsThese data indicate that increases in lymphocytes and ammonia are simultaneously reduced by arginine supplementation. We propose that increased serum lymphocytes could be related to changes in ammonemia and ammonia metabolism.

The Measurement of Ammonia in Human Breath and its Potential in Clinical Diagnostics

“…To counter these responses, arginine supplements have been shown to decrease hyperammonaemia and lymphocyte response during intense exercise and the use of amino acids can modify metabolism during exercise (Goncalves et al, 2012). This increase of blood ammonia can be used to optimise exercise duration (Yges et al, 1999).…”

Non-cirrhotic Hyperammonemia—When High Ammonia Is not Always from Cirrhosis

“…Hyperammonemia is transient and can reach levels as high as 600 μmol/L [44]. In a recent study of 13-trained cyclist who performed a 120-min cycling session, ammonia levels increased by 35 % [45,46].…”

“…Exercise Elevated ammonia has been reported in healthy individuals who perform intensive exercise for a short period [43,44]. Hyperammonemia is transient and can reach levels as high as 600 μmol/L [44].…”

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“…For example the understanding of the composition of layers of paint in the study of ancient pictures can help us to elucidate paleontological issues as well as tissue aging, separating out the information from the biological sample and the environmental contamination. Recently, using the same rationale, the knowledge of MS uses in petroleomics led to a new approach for studying metabolism, now called sportomics [12,13].…”