Anti-fatigue Actions Of Bu Shen Yi Yuan Fang, A Traditional Chinese Medical Formula, In Rowing Athletes

The Bu Shen Yi Yuan Fang (BSYYF) is a traditional Chinese Medical Formula which has been showed to have some curative effects from the long experiences in the clinical medicine. The results of animal experiments indicated that this formula can attenuate the oxidative damage actions of free radicals, be of benefit to energy metabolism and potentiate the immunologic function in the cells. The purposes of the present work were to investigate the anti-fatigue effects of BSYYF in the rowing athletes by making the clinical trial in the sport medicine and to explore the possible mechanisms underlying its actions with respect to related endocrinal and physiochemical events.The subjects of this study, 54 rowing athletes (male 33, female 21) bearing the symptoms associated with the exercise-induced fatigue were selected by means of questionnaire. They were in the regular winter-training. These male and female subjects were respectively assigned to the BSYYF-treated groups and the controls in the manner of random arrangement. According to the double blind principle, the granulated powder of BSYYF was administered to the subjects of the BSYYF-treated groups bid while the placebo to the ones of the control. The course of treatment lasted for 4 weeks. The serum total testosterone and cortisol, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and hemoglobin (Hb) were measured before the course of treatment. The former tow variables were re-measured at the ends of the 2nd and 4th weeks and the latter two were re-measured at the ends of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks during the treatment course. Another questionnaire was given to all subjects to examine the changes in the symptoms associated with the exercise-induced fatigue following the course of treatment. The observations are as follows:1. The analysis of the questionnaire information showed that the BSYYF-treated groups in both male and female subjects had higher remission rates of the symptom associated with fatigue compared to those of the control groups. The remission rates of the BSYYF-treated groups in the symptoms such as the lassitude, thehypodynamia and the short breath during physical exercises were significantly higher than those of the control groups (p < 0.05).2. Before the course of treatment, the differences of serum testosterone and cortisol, BUN and Hb between the BSYYF-treated and the control groups were not statistically significant (p > 0.05) for both male and female subjects.3. Compared to the values before the administration of BSYYF granule, the differences of serum testosterone at the ends of the 2nd and 4th weeks during the treatment course were not significant for the male athletes of the BSYYF-treated groups. The mean serum testosterone of them, however, declined during the course of treatment and was significantly lower at the end of the 4th week than before the course of treatment. The differences of serum testosterone between the BSYYF-treated and the control groups in the male subjects were statistically significant (p < 0.05 and p< 0.01 at the ends of the 2nd and 4th weeks respectively).During the course of treatment, the changes in serum testosterone of the female subjects resembled those of the male ones. Nevertheless, significant differences neither within groups nor among groups were observed.4. At the ends of the 2nd and 4th weeks, the levels of serum cortisol in the BSYYF-treated groups of the male athletes were significantly lower than that its level before the administration of BSYYF granule. There were not any marked changes in serum cortisol of the control groups during the course of treatment. However the differences of serum cortisol between the BSYYF-treated and the control groups were not significant.Meanwhile, the changes in serum cortisol of both the BSYYF-treated and the control groups in the female athletes slightly decreased during the course of treatment, but here were not any significant differences both within groups and among groups.5. At the ends of the 2nd and 4th weeks during the treatment course, the serum t...