Abstract
To study the effects of a therapeutical dose of corticosteroid alone or associated
with beta-2 agonist on performance and substrate response during intense submaximal
exercise, seven healthy moderately trained male volunteers participated in the double-blind
randomized cross‐over study. An intense endurance exercise test to exhaustion was
performed after ingestion of placebo (Pla), 20 mg prednisolone (Pred), and 20 mg prednisolone
plus 4 mg salbutamol (Pred-Sal). Blood samples were collected at rest, after 5, 10
min of exercise, at exhaustion, and after 5 (r5), 10 (r10), and 20 (r20) min of passive
recovery for ACTH, growth hormone, insulin, blood glucose, and lactate measurements.
There were no significant differences in exercise time to exhaustion between the three
treatments (Pla: 21.5 ± 2.9; Pred: 22.0 ± 2.5; Pred-Sal: 24.2 ± 2.8 min). ACTH was
significantly lowered after Pred and Pred-Sal vs. Pla from the start of exercise to
the end of the experiment (p < 0.05). Pred and Pred-Sal increased resting and recovery
(r10 and r20) significantly but not exercise blood glucose values. There were no significant
differences in growth hormone concentrations between the three treatments whereas
insulin was significantly higher at rest, during exercise, and at r20 after Pred-Sal
administration vs. Pred and Pla (p < 0.05). Pred and Pred-Sal showed no significant
effect on blood lactate compared with Pla treatment. These preliminary results do
not support the hypothesis that acute oral therapeutic corticosteroid intake alone
or associated with beta-2 mimetic improves performance during intense submaximal exercise,
but further studies are necessary with tests of longer duration.
Key words
Corticosteroid - beta-2 agonist - acute administration - performance
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Katia Collomp
University of Orleans
Faculty of Sport Sciences
Vendôme street, BP 6237
45062 Orléans Cedex 2
Phone: + 33238417178
Fax: + 33 2 38 41 72 60
Email: katia.collomp@univ-orleans.fr