Antioxidant and oxidative enzyme adaptations to vitamin E deprivation and training.

The effects of endurance training on tissue antioxidant and oxidative enzyme activities were determined in heart, liver, and five skeletal muscles of female rats. Rats were fed either normal (+E) or vitamin E free (-E) diets for 16 wk. For the final 8 wk, subgroups of +E and -E diet animals were trained by treadmill running at 40 m.min-1, 15% grade for 60 min.d-1. No significant differences in training abilities were observed between diet groups. Endurance training significantly increased citrate synthase (CS) activity in all skeletal muscles for both the +E and -E diet animals with no significant difference in degree of response between diet groups. Neither vitamin E deprivation, training, or their combination generally affected the activities of the antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), or glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in skeletal muscles, heart, or liver of the animals. These results suggest that despite an anticipated increase in free radical induced tissue "oxidative stress" brought about by a combination of vitamin E deprivation and endurance training, antioxidant enzyme adaptations were not evident and the response of citrate synthase to training was not impaired in female rats.