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. 2000 Feb;83(2):161–166. doi: 10.1136/heart.83.2.161

Dissociation between muscle metabolism and oxygen kinetics during recovery from exercise in patients with chronic heart failure

A Hanada 1, K Okita 1, K Yonezawa 1, M Ohtsubo 1, T Kohya 1, T Murakami 1, H Nishijima 1, M Tamura 1, A Kitabatake 1
PMCID: PMC1729323  PMID: 10648488

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To estimate muscle metabolism and oxygen delivery to skeletal muscle in patients with chronic heart failure.
METHODS—13 patients with chronic heart failure and 15 controls performed calf plantar flexion for six minutes at a constant workload of 50% of one repetition maximum. During recovery from exercise, skeletal muscle content of oxygenated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and the level of phosphocreatine (PCr) were measured by near-infrared spectroscopy and 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy, respectively.
RESULTS—The mean (SD) time constants of PCr and oxy-Hb during recovery from exercise were significantly greater in patients with chronic heart failure than in normal subjects (τ PCr: 76.3 (30.2) s v 36.5 (5.8) s; τ oxy-Hb: 48.3 (7.3) s v 30.1 (7.7) s; p < 0.01). Both time constants were similar in normal subjects, while the τ PCr was significantly greater than the τ oxy-Hb in patients with chronic heart failure.
CONCLUSIONS—The slower recovery of PCr compared with oxy-Hb in patients with chronic heart failure indicates that haemoglobin resaturation is not a major rate limiting factor of PCr resynthesis. It is suggested that muscle metabolic recovery may depend more on oxygen utilisation than on haemoglobin resaturation or oxygen delivery in patients with chronic heart failure.


Keywords: near-infrared spectroscopy; 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy; chronic heart failure; exercise tolerance

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Figure 1  .

Figure 1  

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Representative spectra showing recovery of phosphocreatine (PCr, filled symbols) and oxygenated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb, solid line) in normal subjects (A) and patients with chronic heart failure (C). Each dataset is fitted with a single exponential curve (B and D). A dotted line indicates the fitting curve of PCr and a solid line shows that of oxy-Hb. The time constants are as follows: B (normal subject): τ oxy-Hb = 28 s; τ PCr = 33 s. D (patient with chronic heart failure): τ oxy-Hb = 53 s; τ PCr = 110 s.τ oxy-Hb, time constant for oxy-Hb resaturation; τ PCr, time constant for PCr resynthesis.

Figure 2  .

Figure 2  

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Relation between the time constants and the anaerobic threshold in patients with chronic heart failure (filled circles) and normal subjects (empty circles). Left panel shows correlation between anaerobic threshold and τ PCr and right panel shows anaerobic threshold and τ oxy-Hb.

Figure 3  .

Figure 3  

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The relation between τ PCr and τ oxy-Hb presented by two dimensional plotting. Empty circles indicate normal subjects and filled circles indicate patients with chronic heart failure.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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