Functionally, this appears to have some consequence in muscle pain. Concerning the time-frame of supplementation, Nosaka et al. [3] evaluated the effects on muscle damage supplementing an amino acid P505-15 in vivo mixture (BCAA-enriched;
60% of essential amino acids) 30 minutes before, immediately after, and 4 days post-exercise (900 actions of arm curl with 1.80 to 3.44 kg of range of workload). No significant differences were observed in the supplemented selleck chemicals group 30 minutes before and immediately after exercise regarding muscle soreness and damage indexes. However, subjects who ingested the amino acid mixture during 4 days post-exercise presented reduction of serum CK (from 48 to 96 hours), myoglobin (from 24 to 96 hours), and of muscle soreness (from 24 to 96 hours) when compared
with the placebo group. However, although no significant differences were observed between groups in isometric maximal voluntary contraction, range of motion, upper arm circumference, and muscle discomfort were decreased up to 4 days after exercise Torin 1 in the supplemented group. These results demonstrate that BCAA supplementation may attenuate muscle soreness and this can be related with some biochemical markers. However, since no results were observed in muscle strength we can postulate that the benefits of BCAA supplementation do not involve structural modulation. Similar responses were observed in the study conducted by Sharp & Pearson [31] which supplemented male subjects with BCAA (1.8 g of leucine, 0.75 g of isoleucine, and 0.75 g of valine) during 3 weeks before and 1 week during a high-intensity total-body RE (3 sets of 8 repetitions maximum, 8 exercises) and observed that serum CK was
significantly reduced in BCAA supplemented group during and following the exercise protocol. In a very elegant study, Jackman et al. [32] evaluated the effects of BCAA supplementation (3.5 g of leucine, 2.1 g of isoleucine, and 1.7 g of valine; divided in 4 daily doses) on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. The main feature of this study was that the subjects remained in dietary control throughout the experimental Pyruvate dehydrogenase protocol in order to minimize the possible effects of other nutrients on the cellular and functional responses. In the exercise day (12 sets of 10 repetitions at 120% of concentric 1 repetition maximum), subjects consumed the supplement 30 minutes before, 1.5 hour after, between lunch and dinner, and before bed; on the following 2 days, 4 doses of supplementation given between meals. Serum CK and myoglobin were significantly increased after exercise and remained throughout the test period and BCAA supplementation did not attenuated it. However, muscle soreness increased after exercise and was 64% reduced in BCAA supplemented group when compared to the placebo group.