Abstract
Study design: Cross-sectional study comparing trained spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects (lesion level: L1∼T6) with healthy young subjects (CONT).
Objective: To investigate the kinetics of response in oxygen uptake (V̇O2) in human upper-body skeletal muscles, nine trained SCI subjects underwent submaximal supine arm exercises.
Method: The SCI subjects underwent an incremental arm exercise test until exhaustion. The days after this first round of testing, breath-by-breath V̇O2 and beat-by-beat heart rate (HR) on- and off-kinetics were determined during three repetitions of constant exercise at 50% of V̇O2peak. The overall time course of response was determined from the half time (t1/2). Increased capillary blood lactate production (Δ[La]b) at the onset of exercise was defined as the difference between at rest and at the end of exercise. Cardiac output (Q̇) was measured using the acetylene rebreathing method during the steady state of exercise. In accordance with the Fick principle, the difference in arterial-venous O2 content (Ca-\(\overline{v}\)O2) was defined as V̇O2/Q̇.
Results: During the steady state of the submaximal arm exercise, a more significant increase in the steady state of Q̇ was obtained in the CONT subjects than in the trained SCI subjects: respectively, 14.9±1.4 l/min versus (12.7±0.8 l/min). There was no difference in the steady state of V̇O2 between the two groups; as a result, SCI subjects had the greater Ca-\(\overline{v}\)2. Meanwhile,V̇O2 on- and off-kinetics became much faster in the trained SCI subjects than in the CONT subjects. In addition, t1/2 HR on-kinetics was not significantly different between the SCI and CONT groups. Increased Δ[La]b was closely related to larger t1/2 V̇O2 on-kinetics (r=0.624, P<0.05).
Conclusion: It is concluded that the acceleration of V̇O2 on- and off-kinetics in the trained SCI subjects was observed even though there was no difference in HR on- and off-kinetics between the SCI and CONT groups and a lower steady state of Q̇ in the trained SCI subjects. V̇O2 kinetics would therefore be the limiting factor in oxidative phosphorylation in the upper skeletal muscles, thereby providing a lower lactic O2-deficit (ie Δ[La]b).
Sponsorship: This study was partly supported by the grant from Frontier Science Promotion in Kumamoto, Japan (1997, 1998).
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate the critical comments of Dr Shynsaku Koga, Kobe Design University, Japan. We gratefully acknowledge the expert technical assistance of Miss Y Nakamura, Miss C Murakami and Miss M Iwamizu.
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Fukuoka, Y., Endo, M., Kagawa, H. et al. Kinetics and steady-state of V̇O2 responses to arm exercise in trained spinal cord injury humans. Spinal Cord 40, 631–638 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101383
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