Cardiovascular Responses During Hypoventilation at Exercise

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the cardiovascular responses during a prolonged exercise with voluntary hypoventilation (VH). 7 men performed 3 series of 5-min exercise at 65% of normoxic maximal O₂ uptake under 3 conditions: (1) normal breathing (NB) in normoxia (NB_0.21), (2) VH in normoxia (VH_0.21), (3) NB in hypoxia (NB_0.157, inspired oxygen fraction=0.157). In both VH_0.21 and NB_0.157, there was a similar drop in arterial oxygen saturation and arterial O₂ content (CaO₂) which were lower than in NB_0.21. Heart rate (HR), stroke volume, and cardiac output (–) were higher in VH_0.21 than in NB_0.21 during most parts of exercise whereas there was no difference between NB_0.157 and VH_0.21 or NB_0.21. HR variability analysis suggested an increased sympathetic modulation in VH_0.21 only. O₂ transport and oxygen uptake were generally not different between interventions. Mixed venous O₂ content (C–O₂) was lower in NB_0.157 than in both VH_0.21 and NB_0.21 and not different between the latter. CaO₂–C–O₂ was not different between NB_0.157 and NB_0.21 but lower in VH_0.21. This study shows that a prolonged exercise with VH leads to a greater cardiac activity, independent from the hypoxic effect. The greater – in VH compared to normal breathing seems to be the main factor for compensating the drop of arterial oxygen content.

hypoxemia - breath holding - hypoxia - hypercapnia

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