Korean Mistletoe (Viscum album coloratum) Extract Improves Endurance Capacity in Mice by Stimulating Mitochondrial Activity

Abstract

The beneficial effects of exercise on overall health make it desirable to identify the orally active agents that enhance the effects of exercise in an effort to cure metabolic diseases. Natural compounds such as resveratrol (RSV) are known to increase endurance by potentiating mitochondrial function. Korean mistletoe (Viscum album coloratum) extract (KME) has characteristics similar to those of RSV. In the present study, we determined whether KME could increase mitochondrial activity and exert an anti-fatigue effect. We found that KME treatment significantly increased the mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in L6 cells and increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC)-1α and silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1), two major regulators of mitochondria function, in C2C12 cells. In the treadmill test, KME-treated mice could run 2.5-times longer than chow-fed control mice. Additionally, plasma lactate levels of exhausted mice were significantly lower in the KME-treated group. In addition, the swimming time to exhaustion of mice treated with KME was prolonged by as much as 212% in the forced-swim test. Liver and kidney histology was similar between the KME-treated and phosphate-buffered saline-treated animals, indicating that KME was nontoxic. Taken together, our data show that KME induces mitochondrial activity, possibly by activating PGC-1α and SIRT1, and improves the endurance of mice, strongly suggesting that KME has great potential as a novel mitochondria-activating agent.

The effects of Korean mistletoe extract on endurance during exercise in mice

“…Similar to a previous report (Jung et al 2012), the administration of KME increased the running time and distance to exhaustion almost 1.3 times compared to the vehicle-treated sedentary group (Figure 3, p < 0.015). In addition, 2 weeks of exercise training also increased exercise endurance almost 1.5 times compared to the sedentary group (Figure 3, p < 0.005).…”

“…Two weeks of exercise training significantly increased the levels of muscular glycogen ( Figure 4A, 23% increase, p < 0.05) and plasma FFA ( Figure 4B, 19% increase, p < 0.0001) after the treadmill endurance test compared with the sedentary Con. In a previous report, muscular glycogen levels decreased through the administration of 1000 mg/kg/day KME for 1 week but remained unchanged through the administration of 400 mg/kg/day KME (Jung et al 2012). Similarly, Time (min) Distance (Km) Con KME EX KME + EX Con KME EX KME + EX p < 0.015…”

“…In addition, KME administration increased exercise endurance in sedentary mice but did not affect exercise endurance combined with exercise training. A recent report demonstrated that the administration of 400 or 1000 mg/kg/day KME improves the exercise endurance of 12-week-old mice in the treadmill running test and swimming test (Jung et al 2012). The oral administration of KME in that report decreased the levels of plasma glucose and lactate, increased oxygen consumption rate, and increased the mRNA expression of genes related to mitochondrial biogenesis and function (such as PGC-1α and SIRT1) in rat myoblast cells.…”

“…The administration of Korean mistletoe (Viscum album coloratum) extract (KME) reportedly has benefits on blood lipid composition similar to exercise training, and decreases plasma ammonia levels, one of the causes of muscle fatigue (Kim & Kim 2009). In addition, KME has recently been demonstrated to increase endurance capacity of mouse via the improvement of mitochondrial biogenesis (Jung et al 2012). In that report, KME administration increased the running, or swimming, time and distance until exhaustion, and decreased plasma lactate levels.…”

Arctigenin enhances swimming endurance of sedentary rats partially by regulation of antioxidant pathways

“…In the assay, L6 cells, which have been widely used in the skeletal muscle endurance or fatigue studies [27,28] , were differentiated in DMEM with 2% horse serum, and then the ROS level in the cell line induced by H 2 O 2 treatment was detected with the cell-permeable fluorogenic probe DCFH-DA. As shown in Figure 1B, arctigenin dosedependently reduced ROS compared with the DMSO-treated (negative control) group in L6 cells.…”