Parameters of ventilatory and gas exchange dynamics during exercise

TLDR

To determine the precise nonsteady‑state characteristics of ventilation (VE), oxygen uptake (VO₂), and carbon dioxide output (VCO₂) during moderate‑intensity exercise. Six subjects performed eight repetitions of 100‑W constant‑load cycling, each preceded by rest or unloaded cycling. The study found that VE, VO₂, and VCO₂ exhibit an initial abrupt phase when exercise starts from rest, a slower phase from a 0‑W baseline, and a subsequent monoexponential rise to steady state with identical time constants, indicating that the exponential response is best modeled by the second phase alone.

Abstract

To determine the precise nonsteady-state characteristics of ventilation (VE), O2 uptake (VO2), and CO2 output (VCO2) during moderate-intensity exercise, six subjects each underwent eight repetitions of 100-W constant-load cycling. The tests were preceded either by rest or unloaded cycling (“0” W). An early component of VE, VO2, and VCO2 responses, which was obscured on any single test by the breath-to-breath fluctuations, became apparent when the several repetitions were averaged. These early responses were abrupt when the work was instituted from rest but were much slower and smaller from the 0-W base line and corresponded to the phase of cardiodynamic gas exchange. Some 20 s after the onset of the work a further monoexponential increase to steady state occurred in all three variables, the time constants of which did not differ between the two types of test. Consequently, the exponential behavior of VE, VO2, and VCO2 in response to moderate exercise is best described by a model that incorporates only the second phase of the response.