Effect of exercise and adrenaline on glycogen metabolism in skeletal muscles of hypokinetic rats.

Exercise and adrenaline-induced glycogen depletion in different types of skeletal muscle (white, red and intermediate) and the rate of post-exercise glycogen recovery in these muscles were studied in rats subjected to prolonged (28--30 days), severe hypokinesia. It was found that exercise--induced glycogen depletion in the muscles of the hypokinetic rats was similar to that in the normal rats. In the hypokinetic rats adrenaline (0.1 mg/kg) had no effect on the glycogen level in the white muscle and only mildly, though significantly, reduced glycogen level in the red and intermediate muscles. No glycogen repletion occurred in the examined muscles during the fist hour of the post-exercise recovery. In three hours of the recovery period there was pronounced glycogen repletion in the muscles but in each of them glycogen level remained significantly lower than the respective pre-exercise level.