The influence of free fatty acids on glycogen recovery in rat heart after exercise

Glycogen supercompensation is the term used to denote the abnormally high levels of glycogen found in the heart shortly after an exercise-induced reduction of the substrate. Using rats, we tested whether this condition was linked to the use of plasma free fatty acids (FFA), which normally rise with exercise. Before a 1-h swim, animals received an injection of either saline (S) or nicotinic acid (NA). The nicotinic acid treatment dramatically suppressed the rise in plasma FFA observed in the S-group. Exercise caused a significant but similar reduction (35-38%) of the myocardial glycogen content in both groups. After 1 h of recovery in the S-group, myocardial glycogen reached a value of 30.3 +/- 1.7 mumol x g-1 or 113% of that measured before the exercise began. In contrast, the value for hearts from the NA-group with reduced FFA levels was 24.0 +/- 1.9 mumol x g-1 or only 91% of that measured before exercise. After 2 h the values were 33.8 +/- 1.4 and 29.0 +/- 1.9 mumol x g-1 respectively. These data indicate that glycogen repletion in rat heart after exercise is related to the amount of FFA present in the plasma. We suggest that carbohydrate metabolism is diverted towards synthesis and storage as a result of the glycolytic inhibition exerted by the increased use of fat as an energy source as previously observed in hearts from fasted or diabetic animals.