Fingerling rainbow trout were supplemented with equal amounts of creatine (Cr) by two routes: dietary (12.5 mg Cr per g food); or intraperitoneal injection (0.5 mg Cr per g fish). Endurance in a fixed velocity sprint test (at a speed of 7 BL s(-1)), and resting levels of white muscle metabolites (total creatine [a measure of free creatine plus phosphocreatine (PCr), ATP, lactate and glycogen] were assessed following 7 days of supplementation and compared to controls. None of the treatments had a significant effect on growth, muscle total creatine, percent phosphorylation of creatine, ATP or lactate. However, resting muscle glycogen was elevated in creatine-supplemented fish. Higher muscle glycogen corresponded to significantly greater endurance in creatine-supplemented fish. Although fish do not actively transport additional creatine into the muscle, a mechanism whereby circulating creatine acts to enhance muscle glycogen is present. These results suggest that the improved endurance may be due to an insulin-dependent mechanism (similar to that elucidated in mammalian studies) that allows fish to supercompensate muscle glycogen stores, thus extending endurance through enhanced glycolytic flux.
