Possibilities of Using Phyto-Preparations to Increase the Adaptive Capabilities of the Organism of Test Animals in Swimming

Background: To study the possibilities of using phytopreparations to increase the adaptive capabilities of the animals on which the experiments were conducted in swimming. Methods: 100 mongrel male rats were divided into 5 groups of 20 animals in each one. For 30 days running, the animals were immersed for 10 min in a bath with water at a temperature of +4 °C. In addition to cold exposure, the animals of the first three groups were injected per os with stress protectors 30 min before the immersion in water. The rats of the first group received an inhibitor of the enzyme gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase, the second group was given an extract of Eleutherococcus, and the third group took an extract of Ligusticum wallichii. As a placebo, to control the effect of the stress protectors, the rats of the fourth group were injected per os with 0.9% NaCl solution, and the animals in the fifth group were not given any drugs. On days 1, 4 and 30 of the experiment, five randomly selected animals from each group were decapitated, the heart and liver were removed, and the activity of tissue enzymes—superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPO), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)—was analyzed. Results: The animals in the control group displayed a decrease in the activity of most of the studied enzymes, increasing from the 1st to the 30th day of the experiment. The NaCl solution had practically no effect on the analyzed parameters. Against the use of the enzyme gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase inhibitor, the activity of the enzymes did not change as compared with the pre-intervention level. On the first day of ingestion, the effects of the Ligusticum wallichii extract were similar to those of the enzyme gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase inhibitor. On the 30th day of ingestion, the effects of the Eleutherococcus extract were practically indistinguishable from those of the enzyme gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase inhibitor. Conclusions: The data obtained suggest the presence of cytoprotective effects in the two phytopreparations that are similar to the enzyme gamma-butyrobetaine hydroxylase inhibitor. In this case, the effect of the extract of Ligusticum wallichii is more pronounced under the acute stress conditions, and the extract of Eleutherococcus, under the chronic stress conditions.