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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Skeletal Muscle Neurovascular Coupling, Oxidative Capacity, and Microvascular Function with 'One Stop Shop' Near-infrared Spectroscopy
Published on: February 20, 2018
[Simultaneous measurement of muscle energy metabolism by MRS and frequency-domain NIR spectroscopy]
Jun Zhao1, Hai-shu Ding, Man-qi Ruan
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Abstract:
The frequency-domain near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) is capable of measuring the absolute absorption and reduced scattering coefficient of tissue noninvasively. This allows the quantitation of tissue hemoglobin concentration which reflects the balance between oxygen delivery and oxygen utilization of the skeletal muscle. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) has become a gold standard of noninvasive measurement of human skeletal muscle metabolism. The rate of phosphocreatine (PCr) resynthesis during recovery is an indicator of the rate of oxidative metabolism. The purpose of the present study was the effect of lower intracellular pH (pHi) on PCr and oxygenation recovery. The preliminary results of plantar flexion experiment on a healthy male subject show that both PCr resynthesis and reoxygenation were very much prolonged by severe acidosis (pHi = 6.42).
