However, the cell membrane is likely to have undergone some degree of lipolysis as a result of an imbalance in calcium homeostasis [4], almost certainly from URMC-099 the exercise insult. The damage

literature often shows a high degree of inter-subject variability in CK and other cytosolic markers of EIMD, however, variability in the current study was relatively small, partly attributable to the trained status of the volunteers. The greater conditioning of these participants has almost certainly led to a repeated bout effect [31], whereby, a conditioning bout of exercise (in this case prior training) leads to a decrease in damage indices on subsequent bouts [4, 31, 32]. This is further check details supported by the low CK response seen in both groups following the exercise, when compared to the damage responses seen in untrained volunteers [19, 20]. Despite this relative learn more homogeneity, the CK response was less in the BCAA group suggesting the membrane integrity was maintained to greater extent than the placebo group. The damage response is known to be bi-phasic in nature; a primary response caused

by the mechanical stress of the exercise, followed by a secondary, transient inflammatory response over the following hours and days [4]. The subsequent inflammatory response increases protein uptake necessary for use as an energy source and/or pathways responsible for cell signaling and subsequent muscle remodeling [14, 33]. Although we cannot definitively support this postulate, it seems plausible that the greater bioavailability provided by BCAA facilitated

this response and thereby decreased secondary damage to the muscle. Our data concur with previous studies that show a peak in soreness at 48 h post-exercise [27, 32]. Furthermore, the group effects support find more previous data [20, 21, 34] showing a reduction in muscle soreness following a damaging bout of exercise with BCAA supplementation. Although the mechanism surrounding muscle soreness following a damaging bout of exercise is not well understood, it seems likely to be related to inflammation, particularly to the connective tissue elements [35] that sensitise nociceptors in muscle and hence increase sensations of pain [36]. However, previous work [20] demonstrating a reduction in soreness following BCAA supplementation also measured the acute inflammatory response (interleukin-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine) and showed no difference between the BCAA and placebo groups. Jackman et al. [20] suggested that the increase in food or feeding per se, particularly amino acids, might be related to reductions in soreness. Although this idea is somewhat speculative and has no supporting evidence or proposed mechanism, we show similar trends in our data, but it is not possible to support or refute this theory.