Respiratory and cardiac responses to exercise-simulating peripheral perfusion in endurance trained and untrained rats

Summary

In endurance trained (TR) and untrained (UTR) rats heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded during perfusion of the circulatorily isolated hind leg of the rat with exercise simulating modified tyrode solutions (TR: n=10, UTR: n=10; compare part I). During the 20 min test period and the preceding and succeeding periods of control perfusions with an unmodified tyrode solution, [lactate], pH, [K⁺], [Na⁺], PO₂ and PCO₂ were measured in the outflow of the femoral vein. In 3 experimental series: (1) hypoxic tyrode solution enriched with lactic acid (15 mmol·l⁻¹), (2) normoxic solution with lactic acid, (3) hypoxic solution without lactic acid, were applied. The outflow parameters were cross correlated with both HR and RR. The analysis revealed a significant temporal relationship between [lactate], pH, PO₂, PCO₂ and [K⁺] and both HR and RR. In the trained rats no temporal correlation between either of the outflow and reflex parameters could be determined. This result was not due to low [lactate], but was also found during perfusion with lactic acid. In all 3 test conditions [lactate] in untrained individuals was best correlated with both HR and RR. Although the correlation peaks of the respiratory response, but not of the HR response were definitely lower in normoxic lactic and perfusion than in the two other experimental conditions, both inter- and intraindividual correlation analyses revealed a high degree of interdependence between respiratory and cardiac responses.