The interrelationship between muscle oxygenation, muscle activation, and pulmonary oxygen uptake to incremental ramp exercise: influence of aerobic fitness
Open accessAbstract
We investigated whether muscle and ventilatory responses to incremental ramp exercise would be influenced by aerobic fitness status by means of a cross-sectional study with a large subject population. Sixty-four male students (age: 21.2 ± 3.2 years) with a heterogeneous peak oxygen uptake (51.9 ± 6.3 mL·min−1·kg−1, range 39.7–66.2 mL·min−1·kg−1) performed an incremental ramp cycle test (20–35 W·min−1) to exhaustion. Breath-by-breath gas exchange was recorded, and muscle activation and oxygenation were measured with surface electromyography and near-infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The integrated electromyography (iEMG), mean power frequency (MPF), deoxygenated [hemoglobin and myoglobin] (deoxy[Hb+Mb]), and total[Hb+Mb] responses were set out as functions of work rate and fitted with a double linear function. The respiratory compensation point (RCP) was compared and correlated with the breakpoints (BPs) (as percentage of peak oxygen uptake) in muscle activation and oxygenation. The BP in total[Hb+Mb] (83.2% ± 3.0% peak oxygen uptake) preceded (P < 0.001) the BP in iEMG (86.7% ± 4.0% peak oxygen uptake) and MPF (86.3% ± 4.1% peak oxygen uptake), which in turn preceded (P < 0.01) the BP in deoxy[Hb+Mb] (88.2% ± 4.5% peak oxygen uptake) and RCP (87.4% ± 4.5% peak oxygen uptake). Furthermore, the peak oxygen uptake was significantly (P < 0.001) positively correlated to the BPs and RCP, indicating that the BPs in total[Hb+Mb] (r = 0.66; P < 0.001), deoxy[Hb+Mb] (r = 0.76; P < 0.001), iEMG (r = 0.61; P < 0.001), MPF (r = 0.63; P < 0.001), and RCP (r = 0.75; P < 0.001) occurred at a higher percentage of peak oxygen uptake in subjects with a higher peak oxygen uptake. In this study a close relationship between muscle oxygenation, activation, and pulmonary oxygen uptake was found, occurring in a cascade of events. In subjects with a higher aerobic fitness level this cascade occurred at a higher relative intensity.
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SmO2 and BLa kinetics are associated with one another physiologically.
“these significant inflections in metabolic markers likely occur in a series of cascading events that take place during transitions across the exercise intensity spectrum and may influence one-another to some degree (Boone et al., 2016).”
From Monitoring skeletal muscle oxygen saturation kinetics during graded exercise testing in NCAA division I female rowers (2025) · cites this paper as Boone et al., 2016
The Discussion reports an association between a muscle-oxygenation breakpoint and maximal lactate steady state, and describes a cascade of oxygenation, activation, and respiratory breakpoints. The paper does not establish an association between SmO2 and blood-lactate kinetics specifically; its own reported cascade does not include a blood-lactate measurement. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe [HHbMb] breakpoint during ramp exercise is suggested to resemble an upper limit of fractional oxygen extraction in the exercising leg muscles during incremental exercise and approximates VT2, maximal lactate steady state and critical power.
“For instance, the [HHbMb] breakpoint during ramp exercise is suggested to resemble an upper limit of fractional oxygen extraction in the exercising leg muscles during incremental exercise [9–11] and approximates VT2 [10,12,11,13–15], maximal lactate steady state [14,16] and critical power [14].”
From Oxygenation Threshold Derived from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: Reliability and Its Relationship with the First Ventilatory Threshold (2016) · cites this paper as [13]
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References 39 · Cited by 70
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Keir, D.A., Fontana, F.Y., Robertson T.C., Murias, J.M., Paterson, D.H., Kowalchuk, J., and Poghliaghi, S. (2015). Exercise intensity thresholds: identifying the boundaries of sustainable performance. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. (in press).
- Authors
- Boone, J., Barstow, T. J., Celie, B., Prieur, F., & Bourgois, J.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University Hospital (BE)
- Kansas State University (US)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Université d'Orléans (FR)
- Venue
- Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
- Publisher
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 55-62
- ISSN
- 1715-5312 (ISSN-L)
- 1715-5320
- OpenAlex
- W2215139163
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 9.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (acceptedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Keywords
- muscle oxygenation, muscle activation, pulmonary oxygen uptake, cardiorespiratory fitness, respiratory compensation point, muscle deoxygenation, mean power frequency, integrated electromyography, near-infrared spectroscopy, gas exchange, cycle ergometry, peak oxygen uptake, ventilatory response, myoglobin, hemoglobin
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Cross-Sectional Studies, Electromyography, Hemoglobins, Humans, Male, Myoglobin, Oxygen, Oxygen Consumption, Physical Fitness, Exercise, Body Mass Index, Muscle, Skeletal, Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared, Young Adult
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