The Effect of Fluoxetine (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) On the Fatigue of Elite Male Basketball Players

Central fatigue is the most important factor in a person's inability to functionbetter, especially in short periods of time, high intensity exercises normally limit athlete performance and delay the desired result. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Fluoxetine consumption (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) when reaching fatigue in elite male basketball players. In this study, 24 healthy elite basketball players with mean and standard deviation of age, weight, height and BMI were 21.5±.16 years, 43.7±76 kg, 28.3±80 cm and 16.1±81.19 kg/m2 participated purposefully and voluntarily.  All the subjects completed and signed the consent form of participation in the study, then were randomly assigned to two groups of 12 people. Six hours before the exercise, one group was given 20 mg Fluoxetine capsules and the other group was given a placebo. Also, half an hour before the start of the exercise, 5 ml of blood was taken from the subjects in order to determine the level of lactate and serotonin levels, and then the subjects ran on a carometer bike with 70% maximum oxygen consumption to the head of fatigue and immediately after Bruce test, 5 ml of blood was taken again from all subjects. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test at the level of (p≤0.05) The results showed that the time to achieve fatigue in the group that had taken Fluoxetine was lower than the placebo group and they reached fatigue earlier than the group that had taken the placebo. These results show that there are central parts of fatigue that are regulated and adjusted by serotonergic neuron activity.