The Relationship Between Creatine and Whey Protein Supplements Consumption and Anesthesia in Rats

Because the trend of pharmacotherapy is toward controlling diet rather than administration of drugs, in our study we examined the probable relationship between Creatine (Cr) or Whey (Wh) consumption and anesthesia (analgesia effect of ketamine). Creatine and Wh are among the most favorable supplements in the market. Whey is a protein, which is extracted from milk and is a rich source of amino acids. Creatine is an amino acid derivative that can change to ATP in the body. Both of these supplements result in Nitric Oxide (NO) retention, which is believed to be effective in N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor analgesia.

The main question of this study was whether Wh and Cr are effective on analgesic and anesthetic characteristics of ketamine and whether this is related to NO retention or amino acids' features.

We divided 30 male Wistar rats to three (n = 10) groups; including Cr, Wh and sham (water only) groups. Each group was administered (by gavage) the supplements for an intermediate dosage during 25 days. After this period, they became anesthetized using a Ketamine-Xylazine (KX) and their time to anesthesia and analgesia, and total sleep time were recorded.

Data were analyzed twice using the SPSS 18 software with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post hoc test; first time we expunged the rats that didn't become anesthetized and the second time we included all of the samples. There was a significant P-value (P < 0.05) for total anesthesia time in the second analysis. Bonferroni multiple comparison indicated that the difference was between Cr and Sham groups (P < 0.021).

The data only indicated that there might be a significant relationship between Cr consumption and total sleep time. Further studies, with rats of different gender and different dosage of supplement and anesthetics are suggested.