A single, maximal dose of celecoxib, ibuprofen, or flurbiprofen does not reduce the muscle signalling response to plyometric exercise in young healthy adults.

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) possess analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. Conflicting evidence exists on whether NSAIDs influence signaling related to muscle adaptations and exercise with some research finding a reduction in muscle protein synthesis signaling via the AKT-mTOR pathway, changes in satellite cell signaling, reductions in muscle protein degradation, and reductions in cell proliferation. In this study, we determined if a single maximal dose of flurbiprofen (FLU), celecoxib (CEL), ibuprofen (IBU), or a placebo (PLA) affects the short-term muscle signaling responses to plyometric exercise.

Methods: This was a block randomized, double-masked, crossover design, where 12 participants performed four plyometric exercise bouts consisting of 10 sets of 10 plyometric jumps at 40% 1RM. Two hours before exercise, participants consumed a single dose of celecoxib (CEL 200 mg), IBU (800 mg), FLU (100 mg) or PLA with food. Muscle biopsy samples were collected before and 3-h after exercise from the vastus lateralis. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures (RM) ANOVA, ANOVA, or a Friedman test. Significance was considered at p < 0.05.

Results: We found no treatment effects on the mRNA expression of PTSG1, PTSG2, MYC, TBP, RPLOP, MYOD1, Pax7, MYOG, Atrogin-1, or MURF1 (all, p > 0.05). We also found no treatment effects on AKT-mTOR signaling or MAPK signaling measured through the phosphorylation status of mTORS2441, mTORS2448, RPS6 235/236, RPS 240/244, 4EBP1, ERK1/2, p38 T180/182 normalized to their respective total abundance (all, p > 0.05). However, we did find a significant difference between MNK1 T197/202 in PLA compared to FLU (p < .05).

Conclusion: A single, maximal dose of IBU, CEL, or FLU taken prior to exercise did not affect the signaling of muscle protein synthesis, protein degradation, or ribosome biogenesis three hours after a plyometric training bout.