Search

The scallop male gonad (SMG) is the primary edible byproduct of the scallop P. yessoensisduring scallop adductor muscle processing. SMG powders showed obvious antifatigue effects in a dose-dependent manner from 50-200 mg/kg/d, as reflected by a 40%-80% increase in exhausted swimming time and a 10%-90% increase in glucose, liver glycogen, and muscle glycogen content compared to those of the Con-S group. Moreover, the SMG powders could maintain the orderly arrangement of muscle tissue after acute vigorous exercise. Moreover, compared with those in the Con-S group, the SMG powders alleviated oxidative stress, as reflected by the downregulation of NAD+/NADH in muscle tissue and the increase in ATP content in muscle tissue by 0.2-fold and SOD content in serum by 0.1-fold. Additionally, protein and amino acid decomposition was alleviated, as reflected by a 14%-22% decrease in BUN as the amount of SMG powder increased. The 10%-12% decrease in the accumulation of BLA in the SMG-treated group corresponded well to the 11%-20% decrease in the LDH level in the serum. In addition, SMG powders downregulated the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 by 35% and 46%, respectively, compared with those in the Con-S group at a dose of 200 mg/kg/d. The antifatigue-related signaling pathways PI3K/AKT, NF-κB, and NRF2/HO-1 could be well regulated by SMG, which could be associated with high antioxidant-related amino acid contents (25.76%) and branched-chain amino acid contents (14.61%) in SMG, indicating that the development of food administration could increase exercise tolerance.