Blood acid-base and lactate relationships studied by ramp work tests

The effect of work rate increase in ramp work tests was studied in six healthy subjects. Each subject exercised on a cycle ergometer with the work rate incremented by either 65.4 W . min-1 and 49.0 W . min-1 for the fast ramps or 8.2 W . min-1 and 6.1 W . min-1 for the slow ramps for male and female subjects, respectively. Gas exchange was monitored by open-circuit spirometry. Arterialized venous blood samples were obtained from a dorsal hand vein. The peak VO2 was not significantly different for fast (3218 +/- 602 ml . min-1, X +/- SD) and slow (3237 +/- 601 ml . min-1) ramp tests. Gas-exchange anaerobic threshold, determined by multi-segment linear regression of VE vs VO2, was similar for fast and slow ramp tests (1742 +/- 415 and 1925 +/- 639 ml O2 . min-1, P greater than 0.05). The VO2 at which blood lactate increased 0.5 mM above resting levels was lower (1463 +/- 259 ml . min-1, P less than 0.05) than the gas-exchange anaerobic threshold for the slow ramp test. The VO2 at which blood lactate reached 2.0 mM was greater (2383 +/- 247 ml . min-1, P less than 0.05) than the gas-exchange anaerobic threshold for the fast ramp test. In addition to these lactate differences, blood pH and HCO3- did not change in direct proportion to the lactate concentration in either test. Blood PCO2 was significantly (P less than 0.05) greater at the point of exhaustion in the fast ramp test (42.2 +/- 2.3 mmHg) than in the slow ramp test (26.7 +/- 2.1 mmHg). It is concluded that the gas-exchange anaerobic threshold can be clearly dissociated from the blood lactate threshold by altering the work rate forcing function. Other mechanisms, such as H+ efflux and CO2 storage capacity, are more likely explanations for the gas-exchange anaerobic threshold.