Anyone used branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) to help repair muscles?

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flintfootfilly

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As per the title, just wondering if anyone has used BCAA's to help repair muscle damage in their horses?

Really interested if anyone has found any good scientific references relating the inclusion of BCAA's in a horse's diet to changes in muscle enzyme levels (such as CK, LDH, AST).

Also any practical experiences of having included BCAA's - where did you buy them, how much did you feed, what were your observations etc.

Just starting to consider trying them if the next blood test of my worst-affected pony doesn't show a significant improvement (CK at around 3,500 for the last year despite trying all sorts, and continuing work intolerance, and despite the rest of the gang showing significant improvements towards normal levels with vit/min supplementation).

All I know really is that BCAAs can apparently bypass the liver and pass directly to the muscles where they can be used to help repair muscle damage, but I'm not finding much in terms of scientific papers relating to horses, though there are a few relating to their use in human athletes.

Thanks.

Sarah
 
I've tried having a look as well and can't find much for this purpose. From what I found about humans though, I think there is a use for treating patients with liver disease.

I'd agree with what you say though. They seem to be used first at the muscle, although they don't completely bypass the liver. Everything absorbed from the GI tract has to go through the liver, which metabolises some of it. What's left over will go straight to the muscle and be used for a mixture of protein synthesis or used for an energy source.

What's the reason why your pony has the muscle damage?

I think it sounds as if it's like a protein shake. Basically a soup of amino acids. Does your pony have any liver problems?

I looked on pubmed for my references. Just discovered it also has veterinary journal material on it as well as medical. I'd search pubmed for references every time.
 
Thanks for your replies.

Bluehorse, yes I tried him on Alcar (which is derived from amino acids) about a year ago but it did not help him. Thanks also for the link to Phoenixhorse.

Ofcourseyoucan, thanks for the comment about vinegar. I had no idea that vinegar was anything other than acetic acid, but having just googled it, it really does seem that it can contain some amino acids. My preference would be to try something with known quanities of specified amino acids rather than something with varying and unknown amounts in, but vinegar is certainly an option I'd not considered. Don't suppose you've come across anything that gives an idea of common concentrations of the different amino acids in it?

JackAT, the pony in question (Max) is one of 5 that I currently own, all of whom (plus one other I had up til last year) showed raised muscle enzymes and varying degrees of work intolerance. Max was/is by far the worst, with the others having CK's of around 350 (the least reluctant pony) up to about 1200 (the second worst affected pony), and a look back at bloods from as far back as 2008 showed that I had never had a pony with a "normal" CK level. Max had a muscle biopsy, all ponies had DNA tested for GYS1 mutation, lyme testing was negative, one pony was post mortemed and various tissues looked at which revealed nothing specific. Hay/grass is known to contain only around 40% of the recommended minimum daily amount of selenium (at 0.04mg/kg instead of the 0.1mg/kg that NRC recommend as a minimum) and my view is that all ponies are showing varying degrees of muscle damage due to long term selenium deficiency. However, their blood level of glutathione peroxidase (as an indicator of selenium) is supposedly "normal", although the reference range has not been established on horses. CK levels in all but the worst pony have improved signifcantly over the months since vit/min supplementation was started, and even the worst pony has showed about a 10% reduction in CK levels, though is still a long way from normal.

And yes, all ponies have shown some degree of ongoing liver damage, which showed up within 4 weeks of starting vit/min supplement with a high level of selenium yeast (giving a total of 3.6mg dietary selenium per 500kg pony per day - supposedly well within safe limits). Subsequently one pony was found to have one liver fluke egg in his poo at the end of October, and on the basis of this, all ponies were treated with Fasinex flukicide. Several weeks later, their liver enzymes had all reduced but were still elevated (worst liver pony went from GGT 2310 to around 670; the others halved, with the lowest becoming 97, with an upper reference of 45). No bloods since the December bloods, so don't know at this stage how we're doing. Intend to wait for bloods in next few weeks before deciding on the next course of action, which is why I'm just looking into possible next stage things now. So yes, I'm keen to avoid anything that might aggravate an already compromised liver.

Will take a look on pubmed. I tend to just google likely keywords, and haven't tried direct through pubmed before.

Thanks again.

Sarah
 
Hi Flintfilly

We have spoken before. My horse had bloods about 3 weeks ago and liver enzymes have started to improve. I took the advice of a nutritionist and almost completely changed my feeding regime. Sugar beet (Speedi beet) has good ratio of branched chain amino acids and in all my research it is these that could be beneficial for a horse with liver problems. I shall re test in around a month and see how things are there but it looks like food with good BCAA are the right direction for horses with liver problems.
 
Yes.

I am using L-Leucine (amino acid) post exercise now for my epsm horse. It does seem to be helping with his recovery rate quite significantly (i.e I used to have to walk him for 4 days after doing any cantering, now I just have to for 1-2 days when use it when compared to when don't)

I would contact Dr Kellon to ask for equine papers, I think most of the research that this is based on for horses is from humans at this stage...

It was suggested to me that I use them before exercise also (30 mins before for energy during exercise) but I haven't started that as yet. I have been told they need to be fed separately to the rest of the food, and with a little golden syrup to boost the absorption capacity??
 
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