Effects of creatine supplementation associated with resistance training on oxidative stress in different tissues of rats

Background Creatine supplementation is known to exert an effect by increasing strength in high intensity and short duration exercises. There is a hypothesis which suggests that creatine supplementation may provide antioxidant activity by scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species. However, the antioxidant effect of creatine supplementation associated with resistance training has not yet been described in the literature. Therefore, we investigated the effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation associated with resistance training over maximum strength gain and oxidative stress in rats. Methods Forty male Wistar rats (250-300 g, 90 days old) were randomly allocated into 4 groups: Sedentary (SED, n = 10), Sedentary + Creatine (SED-Cr, n = 10), Resistance Training (RT, n = 10) and Resistance Training + Creatine (RT-Cr, n = 10). Trained animals were submitted to the RT protocol (4 series of 10–12 repetitions, 90 second interval, 4 times per week, 65% to 75% of 1MR, for 8 weeks). Results In this study, greater strength gain was observed in the SED-Cr, RT and RT-Cr groups compared to the SED group ( P < 0.001). The RT-Cr group showed a higher maximum strength gain when compared to other groups ( P < 0.001). Creatine supplementation associated with resistance training was able to reduce lipoperoxidation in the plasma ( P < 0.05), the heart ( P < 0.05), the liver ( P < 0.05) and the gastrocnemius ( P < 0.05) when compared to control groups. However, the supplementation had no influence on catalase activity (CAT) in the analyzed organs. Only in the heart was the CAT activity higher in the RT-Cr group ( P < 0.05). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was lower in all of the analyzed organs in the SED-Cr group ( P < 0.05), while SOD activity was lower in the trained group and sedentary supplemented group ( P < 0.05). Conclusions Creatine was shown to be an effective non-enzymatic antioxidant with supplementation alone and also when it was associated with resistance training in rats.