Effects of short-term oral salbutamol administration on exercise endurance and metabolism

Abstract

The present study examined whether oral short-term administration of salbutamol (Sal) modifies performance and selected hormonal and metabolic variables during submaximal exercise. Eight recreational male athletes completed two cycling trials at 80-85% peak O(2) consumption until exhaustion after either gelatin placebo (Pla) or oral Sal (12 mg/day for 3 wk) treatment, according to a double-blind and randomized protocol. Blood samples were collected at rest, after 5, 10, and 15 min, and at exhaustion to determine growth hormone (GH), cortisol, testosterone, triiodothyronine (T(3)), C peptide, free fatty acid (FFA), blood glucose, lactate, and blood urea values. Time of cycling was significantly increased after chronic Sal intake (Sal: 30.5 +/- 3.1 vs. Pla: 23.7 +/- 1.6 min, P < 0.05). No change in any variable was found before cycling except a decrease in blood urea concentration and an increase in T(3) after Sal that remained significant throughout the exercise test (P < 0.05). Compared with rest, exercise resulted in a significant increase in GH, cortisol, testosterone, T(3), FFAs, and lactate and a decrease in C peptide after both treatments with higher exercise FFA levels and exhaustion GH concentrations after Sal (P < 0.05). Sal but not Pla significantly decreased exercise blood glucose levels. From these data, short-term Sal intake did appear to improve performance during intense submaximal exercise with concomitant increase in substrate availability and utilization, but the exact mechanisms involved need further investigation.

Effects of dietary zilpaterol hydrochloride (β2-agonist) supplementation on finishing castrated male goats: metabolic endocrine, blood constituents, plasma volume, respiratory rate and cardiac changes

“…For example, similar to our results, Zimmerli and Blum (1990) reported that β2-agonists T-3660 increased (P > .05) the plasma insulin level in calves. Increases in insulin obtained in our study are consistent with results obtained when salbutamol (a β2-agonists, Vandenberg et al 1998) and ractopamine (a β1-agonist, Collomp et al 2000) were administered. ZH has an action mediated via stimulation of cAMP production by activation of the enzyme adenyl cyclase (Mersmann 1998;Hossner 2005).…”

“…Scheidegger et al (1983) indicated that the increases in production of thyroid hormones after β2-agonist treatment is a result of an improvement in insulinmediated glucose metabolism during β-receptor stimulation. Similar effects on T3 and T4 plasma concentrations were detected when isopropylnoradrenaline (β1 and β2 adrenoceptors) and terbutaline (β2 adrenoceptor) were administered (Ahrin and Rerup 1983;Collomp et al 2000) in humans. Increases on thyroid plasma concentration were observed in calves with administration of β2-agonist T-3660 and P-5369 (Zimmerli and Blum 1990) and in lambs when were treated with cimaterol (O'Connor et al 1991).…”

“…In general, glucocorticoids have shown to decrease protein synthesis by affecting rates of translation (Sharpe et al 1986). Nonetheless, Collomp et al (2000) did not explain the possible ways by which cortisol is decreased (P < .05) by administration of β2-agonist salbutamol. In contrast to our findings, a few researchers did not observe significant differences on cortisol concentrations between β2-agonist and control groups in humans (salmeterol; Kips and Pauwels 2001), pigs (salbutamol;Marchant-Forde et al 2008;Moloney et al 1995) and lambs (cimaterol; Beermann et al 1987).…”

Salbutamol intake and substrate oxidation during submaximal exercise

“…Due to the fear of the ergogenic doping effects demonstrated after both acute (Van Baak et al 2000;Collomp et al 2000aCollomp et al , 2002Le Panse et al 2007) and chronic (Collomp et al 2000b;Le Panse et al 2005 systemic abuse, the World antidoping agency (WADA) has put certain restrictions upon the use of beta-2 agonists and presently list four beta-agonists (i.e., salbutamol, terbutaline, formoterol and salmeterol) as a legal medication, permitted in the aerosol form only with a abbreviated therapeutic use exemption (TUE), whereas systemic use is completely banned.…”

Pharmacology and Therapeutics of Bronchodilators

“…However, no effect has been reported in humans on oxygen uptake, lung function and performance with the use of therapeutic doses of inhaled bronchodilator in either patients with asthma or those without (Backer et al, 2007), but some studies have found that high doses of inhaled (van Baak et al, 2004) or systemic (Collomp et al, 2000) ␤ 2 -AR agonists have an ergogenic effect in patients without asthma. Although no effect on performance has been reported, increased lung function has been found in nonasthmatic elite athletes with inhaled ␤ 2 -AR agonists (Sue-Chu et al, 1999).…”