1. The effect of a daily submaximal exercise regimen on whole-body and peripheral tissue amino acid metabolism during weight-stable intravenous feeding (IVF) was evaluated in 11 normal volunteers. Five of the subjects performed 1 h of daily bicycle exercise at 75 W during IVF, while the remaining six subjects received IVF without daily exercise. Body nitrogen balance, leg and forearm plasma amino acid flux and whole-body kinetics were measured before and on day 10 of IVF using a [1-13C]leucine and [15N]glycine tracer.
2. At the end of the IVF period, exercised subjects demonstrated leg uptake of total amino acids (237 ± 103 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue, mean ± sem) which was significantly (P < 0.05) different than in non-exercised subjects (− 1101 ± 253 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue).
3. In the non-exercised forearm, a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in total amino acid flux was observed in exercised subjects (− 162 ± 88 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue) compared with non-exercised subjects (−460 ± 105 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue) on day 10 of IVF.
4. Efflux of 3-methylhistidine significantly (P < 0.05) decreased from the leg in those subjects who performed daily exercise (−0.29 ± 0.12 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue) compared with those subjects receiving IVF without daily exercise (− 1.46 ± 0.35 nmol min−1 100 ml−1 of tissue).
5. Although IVF increased whole-body leucine turnover in both exercised and non-exercised subjects, only exercised subjects demonstrated a significant (P < 0.05) increase in leucine oxidation which was proportionate to an increased muscle uptake of leucine. Whole-body protein breakdown, as assessed by [15N]glycine, was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in exercised subjects compared with non-exercised subjects during IVF.
6. These data demonstrate that daily submaximal exercise produced a systemic as well as limb-specific enhancement of amino acid balance in muscle, providing an anti-catabolic response under conditions of partial immobility induced by hospitalization.
