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Hypoxia affects tissue oxygenation differently in the thigh and calf muscles during incremental running

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study was performed to determine the impact of hypoxia on working muscle oxygenation during incremental running, and to compare tissue oxygenation between the thigh and calf muscles.

Methods

Nine distance runners and triathletes performed incremental running tests to exhaustion under normoxic and hypoxic conditions (fraction of inspired oxygen = 0.15). Peak pulmonary oxygen uptake (\({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\)) and tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) were measured simultaneously in both the vastus lateralis and medial gastrocnemius.

Results

Hypoxia significantly decreased peak running speed and \({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) (p < 0.01). During incremental running, StO2 in the vastus lateralis decreased almost linearly, and the rate of decrease from warm-up (180 m min−1) to \({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) was significantly greater than in the medial gastrocnemius under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions (p < 0.01). StO2 in both muscles was significantly decreased under hypoxic compared with normoxic conditions at all running speeds (p < 0.01). The rate at which StO2 was decreased by hypoxia was greater in the vastus lateralis as the running speed increased, whereas it changed little in the medial gastrocnemius.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the thigh is more deoxygenated than the calf under hypoxic conditions, and that the effects of hypoxia on tissue oxygenation differ between these two muscles during incremental running.

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Abbreviations

FIO2 :

Fraction of inspired oxygen fraction

Hb:

Hemoglobin

HHb:

Deoxygenated hemoglobin and myoglobin

NIRS:

Near infrared spectroscopy

O2Hb:

Oxygenated hemoglobin and myoglobin

SD:

Standard division

SpO2 :

Arterial oxygen saturation

StO2 :

Tissue oxygen saturation

\({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{ 2}\) :

Oxygen uptake

\({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{ 2 {\text{peak}}}}\) :

Peak oxygen uptake

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the subjects in this study. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up (23800075) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. COI Project Center, Juntendo University, 1-1, Hiraga-gakuendai, Inzai-shi, Chiba, Japan

    Takuya Osawa

  2. Department of Sports Science, Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Takuya Osawa, Takuma Arimitsu & Hideyuki Takahashi

  3. Faculty of Sport and Health Science, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan

    Takuma Arimitsu

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  1. Takuya Osawa
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  2. Takuma Arimitsu
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  3. Hideyuki Takahashi
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Correspondence to Takuya Osawa.

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This study was performed without any conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.

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Communicated by I. Mark Olfert.

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Osawa, T., Arimitsu, T. & Takahashi, H. Hypoxia affects tissue oxygenation differently in the thigh and calf muscles during incremental running. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 2057–2064 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3696-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3696-8

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