Thigh Ischemia-Reperfusion Model Does Not Accelerate Pulmonary VO(2) Kinetics at High Intensity Cycling Exercise

Background: We aimed to investigate the effect of a priming ischemia-reperfusion (IR) model on the kinetics of pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO(2)) and cardiopulmonary parameters after high-intensity exercise. Our primary outcome was the overall VO(2) kinetics and secondary outcomes were heart rate (HR) and O(2) pulse kinetics. We hypothesized that the IR model would accelerate VO(2) and cardiopulmonary kinetics during the exercise. Methods: 10 recreationally active men (25.7 ± 4.7 years; 79.3 ± 10.8 kg; 177 ± 5 cm; 44.5 ± 6.2 mL kg(−1) min(−1)) performed a maximal incremental ramp test and four constant load sessions at the midpoint between ventilatory threshold and VO(2) max on separate days: two without IR (CON) and two with IR (IR). The IR model consisted of a thigh bi-lateral occlusion for 15 min at a pressure of 250 mmHg, followed by 3 min off, before high-intensity exercise bouts. Results: There were no significant differences for any VO(2) kinetics parameters (VO(2) base 1.08 ± 0.08 vs. 1.12 ± 0.06 L min(−1); P = 0.30; τ = 50.1 ± 7.0 vs. 47.9 ± 6.4 s; P = 0.47), as well as for HR (MRT(180s) 67.3 ± 6.0 vs. 71.3 ± 6.1 s; P = 0.54) and O(2) pulse kinetics (MRT(180s) 40.9 ± 3.9 vs. 48.2 ± 5.6 s; P = 0.31) between IR and CON conditions, respectively. Conclusion: We concluded that the priming IR model used in this study had no influence on VO(2), HR, and O(2) pulse kinetics during high-intensity cycling exercise.