Optimizing Recovery: the impact of essential amino acid supplementation and blood flow restriction training on skeletal muscle inflammatory response post-eccentric damage

Skeletal muscle is a highly adaptable tissue. Whether recovering from an invasive surgery or a difficult workout, healthy muscle cells rapidly respond to physiological demands through cellular repair, remodeling, and growth. Prolonged disuse, often necessitated by injury or post-operative recovery, can lead to severe muscle atrophy and significantly impair both functional capacity and muscle mass, particularly in aging populations. Thus, there is a growing need for interventions that enhance skeletal muscle resilience and accelerate recovery. Prior studies have shown that Essential Amino Acid (EAA) supplementation and Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training independently promote muscle growth and repair. Still, their effect as a combined treatment remains unexplored. We aimed to investigate whether EAA + BFR treatment improves muscle recovery following eccentric damage and immobilization, with a specific focus on immune cell activity. The present study enrolled 14 subjects, who were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups (n=9 and 5, respectively). The treatment group received 10 sessions of unilateral BFR training combined with daily EAA ingestion (20g, 3x/day) for 2 weeks. Both groups underwent a bout of damaging exercise, supplemented with neuromuscular electrical stimulation, followed by 3 days of limb immobilization. Muscle biopsies were obtained on the vastus lateralis muscle at baseline, post-EAA + BFR treatment (treatment group only), 3 days, 10 days, and 30 days post-damage. M1 and M2 macrophage populations were assessed on cross sections via immunohistochemistry (IHC). Blood samples were also collected to examine circulating markers of muscle damage. Tissue analysis is ongoing. These data inform the effects of EAA and BFR as a clinical treatment to boost muscle recovery and reduce inflammation.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Oregon

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Godino, Lia

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dreyer, Hans

• Muscle
• Essential Amino Acid
• Blood Flow Restriction
• Inflammation
• Myonuclei

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1794/33333

OAI record oai:identifier

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Ascholarsbank.uoregon.edu%3A1794%2F33333