Heesun Jeong¹, Ok-Kyung Kim¹, Jeongjin Park¹, Kyungmi Kim², Jin Woong Chung³, Sangin Shim⁴, Yanghee You^1,, Woojin Jun^1,

Eriobotrya japonica is known as ‘Loquat’ and cultivated in Korea, China, Japan, and India. The present study aims to investigate the effect of Eriobotrya japonica leaves ethanol extract (EJLE) on swimming capacity in mice. Mice were administered distilled water (EX-CON) or 1 g kg^-1 per day of EJLE (EX-EJLE) for 14 days. Exhaustive swimming time was significantly prolonged (by 1.4-fold) in EX-EJLE group compared to that in EX-CON group (P < 0.05). EX-EJLE group showed high nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) and glycogen levels during swimming (P < 0.05). When compared to EX-CON, the EX-EJLE exhibited significant increases in antioxidant enzymes activities including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione (GSH) level as well as and decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) level (P < 0.05). EJLE elevated the mRNA expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, β-hydroxyacyl coenzymes dehydrogenase, peroxisomal proliferator activated receptors-δ, and uncoupling protein-3 in muscle (P < 0.05). These results suggest that EJLE supplementation could improve swimming capacity by ameliorate the physical exhaustion through enhancing utilization of fatty acid, facilitating lipid catabolism, and elevating antioxidant capability.

eriobotrya japonica, leaves, ethanol extract, swimming capacity