Fig. 1.

Overall experimental design. Rats treated with distilled water (EC-Con, n = 24) and leucine-rich essential amino acids (EC-AminoL40, n = 25) underwent electrical stimulation under anesthesia to induce five sets of 10 eccentric contractions. Sedentary rats (n = 24) treated with distilled water were used as control. Muscle function was evaluated by measuring maximum isometric dorsiflexion under electrical stimulation. The tibialis anterior muscle was excised immediately after eccentric contraction (Post-EC, n = 4), and 1 (n = 5), 3 (n = 5), 7 (n = 5), and 14 days (n = 5–6) thereafter. Downwards arrow tissue sampling; filled square measurement of muscle function; circle daily dosing with leucine-enriched essential amino acids or water