Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects on a possible improvement in aerobic and anaerobic performance of oral terbutaline (TER) at a supra-therapeutic dose in 7 healthy competitive male athletes. On day 1, ventilatory threshold, maximum oxygen uptake \( (\dot{V}O_{2\max }) \) and corresponding power output were measured and used to determine the exercise load on days 2 and 3. On days 2 and 3, 8 mg of TER or placebo were orally administered in a double-blind process to athletes who rested for 3 h, and then performed a battery of tests including a force–velocity exercise test, running sprint and a maximal endurance cycling test at Δ50 % (50 % between VT and \( \dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2\max } \)). Lactatemia, anaerobic parameters and endurance performance (\( \dot{V}{\text{O}}_{ 2} ,\dot{V}E \) and time until exhaustion) were raised during the corresponding tests. We found that TER administration did not improve any of the parameters of aerobic performance (p > 0.05). In addition, no change in \( \dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2} \) kinetic parameters was found with TER compared to placebo (p > 0.05). Moreover, no enhancement of the force–velocity relationship was observed during sprint exercises after TER intake (p > 0.05) and, on the contrary, maximal strength decreased significantly after TER intake (p < 0.05) but maximal power remained unchanged (p > 0.05). In conclusion, oral acute administration of TER at a supra-therapeutic dose seems to be without any relevant ergogenic effect on anaerobic and aerobic performances in healthy athletes. However, all participants experienced adverse side effects such as tremors.
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Acknowledgments
We give special thanks to the participants for their great effort, compliance and enthusiasm when participating in the study. We would like to thank Drs Sofiane Ramdani and Benoit Seigle for their analysis and helpful discussions related to postural sway data. This work was supported by the World Anti-Doping Agency and by a fellowship from the Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technologie (to AMJS).
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Communicated by Fabio Fischetti.
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Sanchez, A.M.J., Borrani, F., Le Fur, M.A. et al. Acute supra-therapeutic oral terbutaline administration has no ergogenic effect in non-asthmatic athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol 113, 411–418 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-012-2447-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-012-2447-0