The effects of tocotrienol supplementation on the muscle contractile properties, fatigue and antioxidant enzymes activities of gastrocnemius muscle of trained and untrained rats

Several studies have consistently indicated that vitamin E deficiency can lead to enhanced free radical formation resulting in compromised exercise performance and increased tissue lipid peroxidation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the muscle contractile properties and fatigue resistance of gastrocnemius muscle under Tocotrienol supplementation schemes in sedentary and exercise protocols. Rats were divided into four groups which included sedentary Tocotrienol supplementation (ST) and exercise Tocotrienol (ET) groups with feeding dose 8 mg/kg body weight for six weeks, as well as sedentary control (SC) and exercise control (EC) groups. Exercise protocol consisted from 40 jumps for 40 cm in height for a 6-week. The muscle fatigue protocol consisted from trains of pulses at 40 Hz repeated every second for at least 2 min. Significantly, (P<0.05) increased existed in the muscle contractile properties (twitch tension, contraction time and twitch/tetanic tension ratio) comparing with SC and EC, also increased in tetanic tension and electromyography (EMG) amplitude comparing with SC. Decreased EMG failure and increased fatigue index were improved more in ET group. This study revealed supplementation (T) and supplementation with jumping exercise induced muscle contractile properties and decreased fatigue.