Skeletal muscle adaptation to physical training and beta-adrenergic blockade in spontaneously hypertensive rats

The effects of training alone or in combination with long-term, non-selective, beta-adrenergic blockade on histochemical and biochemical properties of fast-twitch [extensor digitorum longus muscle (EDL)] and slow-twitch [soleus muscle (Sol)] muscle were analyzed in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto strain rats (WKY). Fiber type distribution of Sol was drastically modified in SHR with fewer type I fibers and more type IIA fibers. No such histochemical alterations were observed in EDL. While prolonged swimming training remained ineffective in inducing both histochemical and biochemical improvement in WKY, SHR displayed a significant enhancement of capillarization and oxidative capacity in both Sol and EDL. However, in long-term beta-blocks rats training failed to improve significantly the oxidative capacity of SHR muscles, suggesting that beta-adrenoreceptor stimulation is necessary for a fully efficient adaptation of muscular metabolism to physical training.