Effects of creatine on mental fatigue and cerebral hemoglobin oxygenation

Neurosci Res. 2002 Apr;42(4):279-85. doi: 10.1016/s0168-0102(02)00007-x.

Abstract

While the role of creatine in preventing muscle (peripheral) fatigue for high performance athletes is well understood, its biochemical role in prevention of mental (central) fatigue is not. Creatine is abundant in muscles and the brain and after phosphorylation used as an energy source for adenosine triphosphate synthesis. Using double-blind placebo-controlled paradigm, we demonstrated that dietary supplement of creatine (8 g/day for 5 days) reduces mental fatigue when subjects repeatedly perform a simple mathematical calculation. After taking the creatine supplement, task-evoked increase of cerebral oxygenated hemoglobin in the brains of subjects measured by near infrared spectroscopy was significantly reduced, which is compatible with increased oxygen utilization in the brain.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation / drug effects*
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation / physiology
  • Cognition / drug effects*
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Creatine / therapeutic use*
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Fatigue / drug therapy*
  • Fatigue / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Oxygen Consumption / drug effects*
  • Oxygen Consumption / physiology
  • Oxyhemoglobins / drug effects*
  • Oxyhemoglobins / metabolism
  • Psychomotor Performance / drug effects
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
  • Time Factors
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Oxyhemoglobins
  • Creatine