Heart rate and ventilation in relation to venous [K+], osmolality, pH, PCO2, PO2, [orthophosphate], and [lactate] at transition from rest to exercise in athletes and non-athletes

To evaluate to what metabolic event in contracting muscles heart rate (HR) and \(\dot V\)_E are related, time courses of femoral and cubital venous [K⁺], osmolality (OSM), pH, PCO₂, PO₂, [lactate], and [orthophosphate] ([Pi]) at onset of exercise were studied in athletes (TR) and non-athletes (UT) and compared to time courses of HR and \(\dot V\)_E. During ischaemic work with the calf muscles it could be shown that most of these blood constituents were only released from contracting muscles. Thus their time courses reflected the metabolic events in working muscles being not essentially disturbed by non-working parts of the body. Ischaemic work induced, however, substantial increases of HR and \(\dot V\)_E. In the course of non-ischaemic bicycle work HR and \(\dot V\)_E rose more rapidly in TR than in UT but were lower in TR during the steady state. During non-ischaemic work only the increases of femoral venous [K⁺] closely mimicked the cardiorespiratory transients in TR as well as in UT. None of the other femoral venous substances showed such a rapid change or such typical variations between TR and UT. Cubital venous [K⁺] and [Pi] approached femoral venous concentrations only in the second minute after start whereas pH, PCO₂, and OSM increased mainly in venous outflow from contracting muscles. PO₂ decreased in femoral venous blood of TR and UT, but in cubital venous blood it remained depressed only in UT. It was discussed that the cardiorespiratory adjustment during the initial stages of work was related to K⁺ release in working muscles and not to O₂ consuming or H⁺ producing processes, nor to release of Pi or increase of OSM.