Saddleback Journal of Biology - Saddleback College

Fall 2009 Biology 3B Paper
metabolic rate; which may have caused the creatine
monohydrate to have a shortened period of time to
pass through the blood stream and distribute
throughout the body. The substance may of had a
quicker effect in the shortened period of time,
because throughout the experiment the mice were
physically active which caused the creatine
monohydrate to work more efficiently. In the study
done by Ziegenfuss (1998), the subjects were given a
large amount of liquid (500 mL of grape drink),
because it said creatine had a greater effect when the
body was fully hydrated. Throughout the research the
mice were given an adequate amount of water in a
cup, which was refilled everyday.
Tythcott (2000) hypothesized that rapid
increase in force production might be putting
unwanted stress upon the joints of the Harlan
Sprague and Dawley rats. Fourteen three to four
week-old male rats were separated into groups. The
experimental group was given creatine, which was
dissolved into a carbohydrate solution (Hawaiian
punch fruit drink). Each rat was given 0.5 cc of a
7.0x10 -2 M creatine solution. Each rat received 0.046
g of creatine daily for 14 days. Additional creatine
was added to water bottles to ensure administration
of minimum dosage. As for the control group, the
same amount of Hawaiian fruit punch was given. As
for exercising, rats swam once a day. The study
found that supplementation appeared to have an
average weight change in the experimental group.
The experimental group experienced a significant
average increase in weight by almost 33%. Tythcott
might have seen a greater increase in weight because
the creatine monohydrate was also mixed into the
fruit punch. Both of the studies done by Tythcott
(2000) and Vangenberge et al. (1997), had the similar
procedures and results as our experiment. This
suggested that creatine monohydrate did, in fact,
increase the weight of mammals and that our
hypothesis was correct.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Amir Zand for
helping choose the mice for us. We would also like to
thank Mr. and Mrs. Parsa for letting us store the mice
at their house throughout the research. Last, but not
least, we would like to thank Professor Teh for
supplying us with the necessary equipment and his
guidance.
Literature Cited
Brink, W.(2005). Creatine Supplementation:
Potential Applications in Medicine Townsend. Letter
For Doctors and Patients, 92-95.
Pearlman P., J and Fielding A., R. (Feb 2006).
Creatine Monohydrate as a Therapeutic Aid in
Muscular Dystrophy. Nutrition Reviews. 64(2), 80-
88.
Tythcott,B.(2000). Effect of Creatine Monohydrate
on Tensile Strength of Tendons in Rodents. Bios,
71(2),35-41.
Vandenberghe K., Goris M. , Van Hecke P., Van
Leemputte M. ,Vangerven L., and Hespel P. (1997).
Long-term creatine intake is beneficial to muscle
performance resistance training. Journal of Applied
Physiology. 83(6), 2055-2063.
Ziegenfuss N. T., Lowery M. L., and Lemon W.R.
P.(October 1998). Acute fluid volume changes in
men during three days of creatine supplementation.
Journal of Exercise Physiology. 1(3).
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Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2010