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Kinetics of pulmonary \(\dot{V} \hbox{O}_{2}\) and femoral artery blood flow and their relationship during repeated bouts of heavy exercise

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Abstract

The mechanism that alters the pulmonary \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) response to heavy-intensity exercise following prior heavy exercise has been frequently ascribed to an improvement in pre-exercise blood flow (BF) or O2 delivery. Interventions to improve O2 delivery have rarely resulted in a similar enhancement of \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}.\) However, the actual limb blood flow and \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) dynamics in the second bout of repeated exercise remain equivocal. Seven healthy female subjects (21–32 years) performed consecutive 6-min (separated by 6 min of 10 W exercise) bilateral knee extension (KE) exercise in a semisupine position at a work rate halfway between the lactate threshold (LT) and \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\)peak. Femoral artery blood flow (FBF) was measured by Doppler ultrasound simultaneously with breath-by-breath \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2};\) each protocol being repeated at least four times for precise kinetic characterization. The effective time-constant (τ′) of the \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) response was reduced following prior exercise (bout 1: 61.0 ±10.5 vs. bout 2: 51.6±9.0 s; mean ± SD; P<0.05), which was a result of a reduced slow component (bout 1: 16.0±8.0 vs. bout 2: 12.5±6.7 %; P<0.05) and an unchanged ‘primary’ τ. FBF was consistently faster than \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}.\) However, there was no bout-effect on τ′ FBF (bout 1: 28.2±12.0 vs. bout 2: 34.2±8.5 s). The relationship between the exercise-associated \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) (i.e., \(\Delta \dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\)) and Δ FBF was similar between bouts, with a tendency (N.S: P>0.05) for \(\Delta \dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}/\Delta\hbox{ FBF}\) to be increased during the transition to bout 2 rather than decreased, as hypothesized. The return of \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) kinetics toward first order, therefore, was associated with an ‘appropriate’, not enhanced, BF to the working muscles. Whether a relative prior-hyperemia in bout 2 enables a more homogeneous intramuscular distribution of BF and/or metabolic response is unclear, however, these data are consistent with events more proximal to the exercise muscle in mediating the \(\dot{V}\hbox{O}_{2}\) response during repeated heavy-intensity KE exercise.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C:#16500383 and #12680048) from JSPS and Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B:#16700465) from MEXT. HBR is an International Fellow of the Wellcome Trust (UK) (#064898).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Exercise Science and Physiology, School of Health Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, 1-1-71, Ujina-higashi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8558, Japan

    Masako Endo, Yoko Okada, Anna Ooue, Akira Miura & Yoshiyuki Fukuba

  2. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

    Harry B. Rossiter

  3. Laboratory for Applied Physiology, Kobe Design University, Kobe, 651–2196, Japan

    Shunsaku Koga

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  1. Masako Endo
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  2. Yoko Okada
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  3. Harry B. Rossiter
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  4. Anna Ooue
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  5. Akira Miura
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  6. Shunsaku Koga
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Correspondence to Yoshiyuki Fukuba.

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Endo, M., Okada, Y., Rossiter, H.B. et al. Kinetics of pulmonary \(\dot{V} \hbox{O}_{2}\) and femoral artery blood flow and their relationship during repeated bouts of heavy exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 95, 418–430 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-005-0051-2

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