Metabolism of red blood cells after short-term exercise in rats

The aim of this study was to determine the changes of the basic parameters of the erythrocyte system and the activity of some red blood cell (RBC) enzymes prior to and after a single physical effort leading to exhaustion. The study was carried out on male Wistar rats subjected to running on an electric rotating drum at a speed of 25 m/min. A single exercise caused a decrease in the RBC count, haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and haematocrit (Hct) by 21.9, 16.7 and 16.1%, respectively, and an increase in the reticulocyte count (Ret) by 661.5%. The exercise triggered also changes in the activities of some erythrocytic enzymes: pyruvate kinase (PK) activity increased by 12.4%, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) by 37.8%, glutathione reductase (GR) by 30.8% and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by 248.7%. These increases in the activities of RBC enzymes can be explained by an increase in the red cells turn-over.