Skeletal Muscle Blood Flow

-VO2 increases 10-25 fold as you go from rest to exercise

-Cardiac output only increases 4-8 fold
-Skeletal muscle blood flow can increase 100 fold

Cardiovascular Adaptations to Training

-Endurance training can increase VO2max 10-40%
-Onset of SNA still at 45-50% VO2max
-Evidence for Arteriogenesis
-VO2max increased 7%
-Femoral artery diameter increased 9%
-Evidence for Angiogenesis
-Capillary contacts per muscle fiber was 24% greater in EX rats
-Capacity to improve VO2max
-VO2max increased 5% in 1 week
-VO2max increased 44% in 10 weeks
-VO2 max increased 57% in post-coronary patients who trained for a marathon (29
ml/kg/min to 46 ml/kg/min)
-Maintaining Aerobic Capacity
-Frequency could be reduced 67%
-Duration could be reduced 67%

Passive Heating
-Cardiac Output can double
-Up to 60% of cardiac output is directed to skin
-Mechanism for increased skin blood flow
-decreased SNA to arterioles in skin (10%)
-Activation of sympathetic cholinergic (Ach) nerves (90%)

Autonomic Control of Bronchiolar Dilation

-During heavier exercise (>45% VO2max), SNS lowers airway resistance

Functional Anatomy of Respiratory Zone

-Contains a dense network of air filled sacs (alveoli; 300 million/lung)
-Capillary Network
-Diameter of capillaries is roughly 10m
-Red blood cells are 8m in diameter thus cells pass through single file
-At rest, red blood cells spend about 0.75 seconds inside the capillary

Lung Volumes
-VE at rest is 5-7 L/min
-VE at heavy exercise is 85 L/min
-VE at max exercise is 110 L/min

Work of Breathing
-Respiratory muscles consume progressively greater percentage of whole body VO2
-Rest: 1-2% VO2
-Max Exercise: 10% VO2 (non-trained subjects)
-Max Exercise: 15-16% VO2 (athletes)
-During max exercise, 14-16% of cardiac output is directed to respiratory muscles

Ventilatory Response to exercise

-Anaerobic threshold happens at 65-75% VO2max
-During heavy exercise (>60% VO2max), VT plateaus to minimize elastic work
Oxygen Transport
-PO2 of blood entering pulmonary capillaries is ~40 mmHg
-In healthy subjects, PO2 of blood leaving pulmonary capillary is ~100 mmHg
-RBCs stay in pulmonary capillaries ~0.25 seconds during max exercise

Role of Hemoglobin
-Hb consists of 4 protein chains
-Each chain has 1 heme group with an iron atom that can bind to oxygen
-Saturated Hb carries 1.34 ml O2/g
-O2 is transports bound to Hb (99%)
-O2 is transported dissolved in blood (1%)
-Hb content
-Males: 15 g/100 ml blood
-Females: 14 g/100 ml blood
-Oxygen carrying capacity for males is 20.3 ml O2/100 ml blood

Hemoglobin Saturation
-In resting muscle, PO2 is 40 mmHg and Hb releases ~25% of its O2
-During exercise, muscle PO2 declines and ~75% O2 is released

PaO2 during exercise in athletes

-PaO2 declined >20 mmHg in the most fit athletes
-RBC transit time drops below 0.25 seconds

Partial Pressures for CO2

-In Lungs- PO2= 105 mmHg, PCO2= 40mmHg
-To pulmonary vein- PO2= 100 mmHg, PCO2= 40 mmHg
-Muscle- PCO2= 46 mmHg
-Systemic Veins- PO2= 40 mmHg, PCO2= 46 mmHg
- To lungs- PO2= 40 mmHg, PCO2= 46 mmHg

Mechanisms for CO2 transport

-Dissolved CO2 in plasma- 5%
-In combination with proteins (Hb) as Carbamino compounds- 25%
-As Bicarbonate ions- 70%

Mechanisms of Ventilatory Control

-Central Command
-PNB with curare reduced muscle strength by 60%
-Chemoreceptors
-Hypoxic environment (12% O2)
-Normal environment (21% O2)