The effect of creatine on the developing rat foetus

[摘要] Creatine is one of the most frequently or generally used ergogenic substances. Itis used by professional and amateur athletes and the 'man on the street”.Creatine is involved in energy production and protein synthesis in muscle.Although studies have been carried out on the effect of creatine on adults, nostudy has yet determined whether creatine would have an influence on thedeveloping rat foetus if taken by a female during pregnancy.The aim of this study was thus to determine whether creatine had an effect onthe developing foetus.Dams were divided into two groups, which we re injected between days 7-13 andon days 9 and 11 only of intra-uterine development respectively. Each group wassubdivided into a control and two experimental groups. Experimental group onereceived a low dose of creatine (53.5mg/250g body weight); the otherexperimental group received a high dose of creatine (107mg/250g body weight).The control group received an equal volume (1ml) of the vehicle (saline) in whichthe creatine was constituted. Dams were sacrificed on day 20 of development.The foetuses were removed and their weight and length taken. Foetuses wereexamined for abnormalities. Two foetuses from each litter underwent skeletalstaining. Tissue was excised from the remaining foetuses and processed forhistology for histological investigation.Creatine positively affected the growth of the foetuses of dams injected betweendays 7-13, while foetuses of dams injected only on days 9 and 11 in the B-groupshowed reduced growth. Creatine also had a slightly negative effect on thehistological structure of the liver, but enhanced skeletal muscle growth, endocrinecell formation (pancreas) and skeletal formation.From the results obtained it is hypothesized that creatine and insulin togethermay play a positive role from implantation to birth, while creatine given at certainstages of organogenesis delayed development of the foetus.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand