Muscle Oxygenation Level Might Trigger the Regulation of Capillary Venous Blood Filling during Fatiguing Isometric Muscle Actions

Silas Dech; Frank N Bittmann; Laura V Schaefer

doi:10.3390/diagnostics11111973

Muscle Oxygenation Level Might Trigger the Regulation of Capillary Venous Blood Filling during Fatiguing Isometric Muscle Actions

Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Oct 23;11(11):1973. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11111973.

Authors

Silas Dech¹, Frank N Bittmann¹, Laura V Schaefer¹

Affiliation

¹ Devision of Regulative Physiology and Prevention, Department of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.

Abstract

The regulation of oxygen and blood supply during isometric muscle actions is still unclear. Recently, two behavioral types of oxygen saturation (SvO₂) and relative hemoglobin amount (rHb) in venous microvessels were described during a fatiguing holding isometric muscle action (HIMA) (type I: nearly parallel behavior of SvO₂ and rHb; type II: partly inverse behavior). The study aimed to ascertain an explanation of these two regulative behaviors. Twelve subjects performed one fatiguing HIMA trial with each arm by weight holding at 60% of the maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) in a 90° elbow flexion. Six subjects additionally executed one fatiguing PIMA trial by pulling on an immovable resistance with 60% of the MVIC with each side and same position. Both regulative types mentioned were found during HIMA (I: n = 7, II: n = 17) and PIMA (I: n = 3, II: n = 9). During the fatiguing measurements, rHb decreased initially and started to increase in type II at an average SvO₂-level of 58.75 ± 2.14%. In type I, SvO₂ never reached that specific value during loading. This might indicate the existence of a threshold around 59% which seems to trigger the increase in rHb and could explain the two behavioral types. An approach is discussed to meet the apparent incompatibility of an increased capillary blood filling (rHb) despite high intramuscular pressures which were found by other research groups during isometric muscle actions.

Keywords: O2C spectrophotometer; blood flow; capillary recruitment; hemoglobin amount; holding isometric muscle action (HIMA); isometric muscle action; muscle oxygen saturation; pulling isometric muscle action (PIMA).