• Ayşe Şebnem İlhan, Şevin Güney, and Sibel Dincer.
• Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Gülhane Faculty of Dentistry, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey
• Turk J Med Sci. 2021 Aug 30; 51 (4): 218521922185-2192.

Background/AimPhysical exercise is a state of physiological stress that requires adaptation of the organism to physical activity. Glycogen is an important and essential energy source for muscle contraction. Skeletal muscle and liver are two important glycogen stores, and the energy required to maintain exercise in rodents are provided by destruction of this glycogen depot. In this study, the effects of endogenous opioid peptide antagonism at the central nervous system level on tissue glycogen content after exhaustive exercise were investigated.Materials And MethodsRats had intracerebroventricularly (icv) received nonspecific opioid peptide receptor antagonist, naloxone (50 μg/10 μL in saline) and δ-opioid receptor-selective antagonist naltrindole (50 μg/10 μL in saline) and then exercised till exhaustion. After exhaustion, skeletal muscle, heart, and liver were excised immediately.ResultsBoth opioid peptide antagonists decreased glycogen levels in skeletal muscle. Although, in soleus muscle, this decrease was not statistically significant (p > 0.05), in gastrocnemius muscle, it was significant in the icv naloxone administered group compared with control (p < 0.05). Heart glycogen levels increased significantly in both naloxone and naltrindole groups compared to control and sham-operated groups (p < 0.05). Heart glycogen levels were higher in the naloxone group than naltrindole (p < 0.05). Liver glycogen levels were elevated significantly with icv naloxone administration compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Glycogen levels in the naloxone group was also significantly higher than the naltrindole group (p < 0.05).ConclusionOur findings indicate that icv administered opioid peptide antagonists may play a role in glycogen metabolism in peripheral tissues such as skeletal muscle, heart, and liver.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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