Physical training under the influence of beta blockade in rats: effect on adrenergic responses.

Rats were trained by daily swimming or running exercises with and without daily propranolol injections. Both training methods resulted in cardiac enlargement, but only swimming exercise caused hypertrophy of the brown adipose tissue. These changes were antagonized by beta blockade. The size of the adrenals reflected the stress of the treatments, but other known stress parameters, such as the size of the thymus or sexual organs dit not. Only swimming training without beta blockade sensitized the rats to the calorigenic action of noradrenaline. The cooling rate of the rats in water, when taking into account the insulative capacity of the body, was decreased in swimming-trained as well as in propranolol-treated rats but increased in running-trained rats. The latter two changes may be due to circulatory alterations, while the delayed body cooling in swimming-trained rats probably results from increased heat production capacity. Training-induced resting bradycardia and enhanced tachycardic response to isoprenaline were observable only in the animal groups trained without beta blockade. The pressor response to noradrenaline tended to be higher in the trained groups and the propranolol-treated group than in the controls and was smaller in the animal groups trained under the influence of beta blockade. On the other hand, the hypotonic response to isoprenaline was smaller in the propranolol-treated and running-trained animals. The results emphasize the importance of the sympathetic nervous system in the adaptation of an organism to physical training.