Phosphocreatine degradation in type I and type II muscle fibres during submaximal exercise in man: effect of carbohydrate ingestion.

1. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion on changes in ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr) concentrations in different muscle fibre types during prolonged running and relate those changes to the degree of glycogen depletion. 2. Five male subjects performed two runs at 70 % maximum oxygen uptake (.V(O2,max)), 1 week apart. Each subject ingested 8 ml (kg body mass (BM))(-1) of either a placebo (Con trial) or a 5.5 % CHO solution (CHO trial) immediately before each run and 2 ml (kg BM)(-1) every 20 min thereafter. In the Con trial, the subjects ran to exhaustion (97.0 +/- 6.7 min). In the CHO trial, the run was terminated at the time coinciding with exhaustion in the Con trial. Muscle samples were obtained from the vastus lateralis before and after each trial. 3. Carbohydrate ingestion did not affect ATP concentrations. However, it attenuated the decline in PCr concentration by 46 % in type I fibres (CHO: 20 +/- 8 mmol (kg dry matter (DM))(-1); Con: 34 +/- 6 mmol (kg DM)(-1); P < 0.05) and by 36 % in type II fibres (CHO: 30 +/- 5 mmol (kg DM)(-1); Con: 48 +/- 6 mmol (kg DM)(-1); P < 0.05). 4. A 56 % reduction in glycogen utilisation in type I fibres was observed in CHO compared with Con (117 +/- 39 vs. 240 +/- 32 mmol glucosyl units (kg DM)(-1), respectively; P < 0.01), but no difference was observed in type II fibres. 5. It is proposed that CHO ingestion during exhaustive running attenuates the decline in oxidative ATP resynthesis in type I fibres, as indicated by sparing of both PCr and glycogen breakdown. The CHO-induced sparing of PCr, but not glycogen, in type II fibres may reflect differential recruitment and/or role of PCr between fibre types.