# Modified creatine greatly increases the performance of skeletal and smooth muscles

## TL;DR

A modified form of creatine improves muscle performance and reduces fatigue in both skeletal and smooth muscles of rats.

## Contribution

A novel creatine modification, ProCreatine, is shown to enhance muscle function independently of membrane transporters.

## Key findings

- ProCreatine significantly increases maximal force output and muscle productivity in skeletal muscles.
- ProCreatine extends the duration of isometric contraction in smooth muscles by sixfold.
- Regular creatine had no significant effect on muscle fatigue parameters.

## Abstract

Creatine is a nitrogen-containing carboxylic acid and a main component of phosphocreatine. In recent years, creatine is considered as a component of dietary nutrition, to improve the efficiency of physical activity and increase muscle mass of athletes and older people. Creatine has been shown to be able restore cardiac contractility impairment after myocardial infarction. However, as muscle cells do not synthesise creatine, the efficiency of creatine depends on its transmembrane transport.

In our study, we evaluated the effect of «ProCreatine» (ProCr), a novel membrane transporter-independent creatine modification on fatigability of the rat gastrocnemius muscle and portal vein smooth muscle using fatigue stimulation pools. Mechanokinetic and biomechanical markers of fatigue in muscles to maintain the level of isometric tension induced by field electrical stimulation were examined. The results indicate that administration of ProCr to skeletal muscle significantly increases maximal force output, integrated muscle contractile force and significantly increases muscle productivity. We observed positive changes in all studied biochemical indices of fatigue. In addition, ProCr increases the duration of sustaining a constant level of isometric contraction in portal vein smooth muscle caused by electrical stimulation by 6 fold. Regular creatine in the same dose had no significant effect on these parameters neither in skeletal nor in smooth muscles. The data obtained suggest the possibility of using ProCr as a therapeutic agent capable of reducing and correcting pathological conditions of the muscular system that arise during the processes of fatigue in skeletal muscles and smooth muscles of hollow organs.

•New creatine restored the performance and biochemical markers of fatigue in the rat gastrocnemius and portal vein muscles.

New creatine restored the performance and biochemical markers of fatigue in the rat gastrocnemius and portal vein muscles.