Changes in muscle proton transverse relaxation times and acidosis during exercise and recovery

We studied changes in muscle proton (1H) transverse relaxation times (T2) by magnetic resonance imaging during exercise and compared these changes with alterations in muscle metabolism measured by phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS). Eleven subjects completed two trials of intermittent incremental forearm wrist flexion exercise requiring 30 contractions/min for 5 min, 7 min of recovery between stages, and 5-N load increments/stage. Between stages of the first trial, T2 images of muscle 1H were obtained. Muscle T2 increased from 27.3 +/- 1.1 (SD) ms at rest to 35.8 +/- 3.6 ms after volitional fatigue (P < 0.05), whereas less active wrist extensor muscle T2 remained unchanged (26.8 +/- 0.9 to 28.8 +/- 1.6 ms; P > 0.05). After localizing the predominant muscle recruited from the T2 images, subjects completed an identical trial at least 1 wk later but involving surface coil 31P-MRS of the T2-enhanced muscle to measure the H+ concentration ([H+]). Intramuscular [H+] of T2-enhancing muscle increased from 1.1 +/- 0.1 x 10(-7) M at rest to 4.1 +/- 2.0 x 10(-7) M after volitional fatigue. Both muscle T2 and intramuscular [H+] increased in a bimodal manner, with T2 increasing before muscle [H+] (P < 0.05). The correlation coefficient between the percent change in T2 and muscle [H+] during exercise was +0.74 (range 0.48-0.98; P < 0.05) and +0.47 during recovery. After 12 min of recovery, muscle [H+] decreased to 1.4 +/- 0.3 x 10(-7) M (P < 0.05), and T2 remained close to postexercise values (32.2 +/- 3.1 ms, P > 0.05). The data indicate that 1) the T2 increases during increases in exercise intensity are nonlinear, 2) the T2 increases during exercise are significantly correlated with increases in [H+], and 3) the slow recovery of T2 compared with [H+] indicates that [H+] has a minor contribution to the recovery in T2.