Effects of exercise on skeletal muscle and serum enzyme activities in pigs

In order to determine skeletal muscle and serum enzyme activities following exercise, six adult Landrace pigs were submitted to 10 min running on a treadmill (0.5 m/s, on a 12% gradient) and compared to six controls. Blood samples were obtained just before the exercise, immediately after, and 24 h, 48 h and 144 h after exercise. Muscle biopsies were taken from the longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris 24 h after exercise. Total lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and LDH isoenzymes in muscle and serum were unchanged. In muscle homogenates, there was no difference in total creatine phosphokinase (CK) activity between the two groups. Total CK activity in the biceps femoris muscle represented only 59% of that observed in the longissimus dorsi muscle. A mean CK-MB value of 2.5% was found in the control group for both muscles but after exercise it was 9.5% (p<0.05) for the biceps femoris and 12.2% (p<0.01) of the longissimus dorsi muscle. In serum, the total CK (p<0.05), CK-MM (p<0.05) and CK-BB (p<0.05) increased immediately after the exercise, followed by a progressive decrease.