1. Introduction
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Aspartate supplementation has been reported to improve endurance performance by facilitating the tricarboxylic acid cycle flux. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of aspartate supplementation on repeated-sprint performance and blood pH. Following an overnight fast, fourteen healthy males completed three sets of 10 × 6 s maximal sprints after consuming sodium L-aspartate (ASP) or placebo (PLA), in a double-blind manner. Both supplements were taken twice on each test day (2 × 4.5 g). Exercise performance (e.g., cadence and power output) and blood variables (e.g., pH and plasma amino acid levels) were measured. The ASP trial evidenced significantly higher plasma aspartate concentration during the first (ASP, 45.3 ± 9.2 μM; PLA, 6.1 ± 0.8 μM) and the second exercise sets (ASP, 24.2 ± 4.5 μM; PLA, 6.6 ± 0.9 μM) and peak cadence during the second set (ASP, 153 ± 3 rpm; PLA, 152 ± 3 rpm) compared with the PLA trial (all Aspartate is a non-essential amino acid that is a precursor of oxaloacetate, an intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle [In various team and racket sports, athletes are required to repeatedly engage in brief (≤10-s) bouts of maximal sprints with incomplete (≤60-s) recovery throughout the game. The ability to recover and reproduce power output during successive sprints is termed RSA (repeated-sprint ability) [In the present study, we determined the effects of aspartate supplementation on performance and blood pH during a repeated-sprint exercise. We hypothesized that aspartate would mitigate blood pH reduction and improve the RSA relative to the placebo (PLA).