Anti-fatigue effect of pigeon meat hydrolysate on exercise mice and its underlying mechanism: Related to oxidative stress and energy metabolism

With the acceleration of the pace in modern society, fatigue caused by high-intensity physical work, long-term heavy mental work and lack of sleep has become a widespread and noticeable health problem. In this study, pigeon meat hydrolysate (PMH) with good antioxidant activity was prepared and the anti-fatigue effects of fractions in PMH with different molecular weights (MW) on exercise mice and the underlying mechanism were investigated. Results showed that mice gavaged with PMH and its fractions exhibited improved exhaustive swimming time when compared to the Control, with fraction at MW 1–5 kDa (PP2) showed the highest improvement. Meanwhile, PP2 decreased the levels of blood lactate acid (BLA) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and increased the contents of muscle and liver glycogen. And the activities of Na + -K + -ATPase and Ca 2+ -Mg 2+ -ATPase in myocyte of mice were significantly enhanced, with the outflow of creatine kinase (CK) reduced. PP2 also exhibited significant antioxidant activity by increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and reducing the production of malondialdehyde (MDA), especially at relative higher dosages (M-PP2 and H-PP2). Metabolomics study indicated that the differential metabolites between PP2 and the Control group in liver tissues of mice were mainly related to the energy metabolism and central nervous system regulation pathways. All these results demonstrated that PP2 fraction in PMH at a dosage higher than 0.5 mg/g of mice body weight could significantly enhance the exercise endurance of mice and exert excellent anti-fatigue ability via alleviating oxidative stress and modulating energy metabolism in mice.