Volume 6, Spring 2008 - Saddleback College

Fall 2007 Biology 3A Abstracts
energy therefore greater endurance in the body
(Bessman and Geiger, 1981). In this study, both
groups, the Western Fence lizards with no creatine
consumed and the same lizards later with creatine
monohydrate in their systems were carried out and
exercised throughout the study in the same conduct.
However, all ten lizards under the consumption of
creatine demonstrated a hyper active behavior which
later had an effect in their running times.
Results were determined by obtaining the run
times of all ten lizards and calculating for the mean
average of both groups. By carrying out the same
experiment with both groups, the small amount of
creatine monohydrate pure powder introduced to the
lizards’ diet showed a great impact on their energy
metabolism. In previous studies, muscle cells and
macrophages demonstrated that it is impossible for
cells to synthesize creatine, therefore, the cells must
take creatine in by plasma in an uphill reaction (Loike,
Azalutsky, Kaback, Miranda, and Silverstein, 1988),
which has been done so by running the lizards to
exhaustion and increasing their sprinting time.
This experiment indicates that severe activity
by Western Fence lizards and many similar vertebrates,
which undergo aerobic exercise, may require enough
ATP energy to sustain the rigorous conditions
presented to them. By consuming dietary supplements,
which can stimulate the metabolism to release energy
faster, will result in the accumulation of energy causing
a greater potential for longer endurance. In this study,
the creatine monohydrate passed on to the lizards has
triggered the body to release large amounts of energy.
Following that, we hypothesized that by
giving creatine monohydrate to Western Fence lizards
(S. occidentalis), the reaction involving
phosphocreatine would enable the creatine pathways to
synthesize and re-synthesize ATP from
phosphocreatine developing a greater endurance and a
longer run time. In conclusion, the results have proven
such hypothesis to be accurate, leaving us with clear
certainty that in fact creatine monohydrate has an
increasing significant effect in the vertebrate’s aerobic
conditions.
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The Metabolic Cost of Digestion in the Ball Python, Python regius
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Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2008