As the building blocks of nucleic acids, nucleotides are conditionally essential nutrients that exhibit multifaceted activities. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-fatigue effects of dietary nucleotides (NTs) on mice and explore the possible underlying mechanism. Mice were randomly divided into four experimental sets to detect different indicators. Each set of mice was then divided into four groups: (i) one control group and (ii) three NTs groups, which were fed diets supplemented with NTs at concentrations of 0%, 0.04%, 0.16%, and 0.64% (wt/wt). NTs could significantly increase the forced swimming time, enhance lactate dehydrogenase activity and hepatic glycogen levels, as well as delay the accumulation of blood urea nitrogen and blood lactic acid in mice after 30 days of treatment. NTs also markedly improved fatigue-induced alterations in oxidative stress biomarkers and antioxidant enzymes. Notably, NTs increased the mitochondrial energy metabolic enzyme activities in the skeletal muscles of mice. These results suggest that NTs exert anti-fatigue effects, which may be attributed to the inhibition of oxidative stress and the improvement of mitochondrial function in skeletal muscles. NTs could be used as a novel natural agent for relieving exercise fatigue. Abbreviations: ATP: adenosine triphosphate; BLA: blood lactic acid; GSH-Px: glutathione peroxidase; LDH: lactate dehydrogenase; MDA: malondialdehyde; NTs: dietary nucleotides; SDH: succinate dehydrogenase; SOD: superoxide dismutase; BUN: blood urea nitrogen.
Keywords: Dietary nucleotides; anti-fatigue; forced swimming test.